As second in command of a Coast Guard ship, Elizabeth Fossett is leading the perfect life, right up until she is held responsible for the deaths of apparently innocent fishermen--only it wasn't like that, but no one is listening. A court martial and a bitter divorce cascade on top of her mother's death by a hit-and-run driver, and Elizabeth returns to her small hometown on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Badly shaken, she takes over her father's wine shop, unaware that she is targeted for assassination by the leaders of a powerful drug cartel. A vagabond pleasure boater saves her from a frightening, violent assault. But Daniel O'Brien-last seen in Errand of Mercy-is no vagabond. He's an ex-military pilot with the survival skills she desperately needs, and his rough good looks and burn scars come at a steep price from an explosion that killed his wife. Together, they begin to peel back the layers of a criminal conspiracy. But just as they awaken to a passionate desire for each other, they come under the crosshairs of a professional killer. Someone must pay the ultimate price, and their future together hangs in the balance.