Darius Price rules Devon’s smuggling coast with an intense control that has ended the violence between smuggling families. He will never forget how that violence claimed the lives of his parents. When the infamous Drey family commits an act of heinous murder, he has no choice but to go after them and end their careers, or even their lives if necessary. Tess Drey’s loyalty to her brothers has been unwavering until the night they commit a crime so horrific she can no longer deny their brutality. Especially after they accuse her of disloyalty, tie her up, and leave her in a smuggler’s cave to die. Darius Price is the last person she expects to come to her rescue. Her shock is doubled when he proposes a marriage between them to keep her safe and to provide a way for Darius to control her power-hungry brother, Simon. Drawn to each other by their independent spirits and their fear of loss after suffering so much, Tess and Darius share a passion for each other that is all-consuming. With the help of Darius’s powerful friends, they devise a plan to end Simon’s attempts to kill them both and take over the Devon smuggling trade. An act of betrayal destroys the plan, and Tess puts her life in danger when she realizes death may be the only way to stop the Devon Coast from erupting into a smuggling war. A war that would destroy all in its path and take the life of the man she loves.