Shana Abe has captured the imagination of readers everywhere with her superbly sensual tales of forbidden love. Now she weaves the exquisite story of a man and woman torn apart by fate - who realize years later that love's second bloom is the one that matters most.

At fifteen Lady Amiranth St. Clare became the bride of Tristan Geraint. She thought all of her dreams had come true - until she learned on her wedding day that Tristan had married her only for her bloodline.

A week later Tristan deserted her for the glories of battle. Heartbroken, Amiranth felt she'd been abandoned, not knowing that Tristan had become a prisoner of war - nor that he would one day return to the life he didn't know he wanted until it was taken away.

Eight long years pass before Tristan finally comes home. A beautiful woman greets him in the garden, claiming to be Amiranth's cousin. Yet somehow she seems hauntingly familiar, with an ethereal radiance that stirs him deep within his heart. Is she really his wife, grown into a lady of breathtaking beauty - or another woman who has awakened within him a passion he has never known?

To discover the truth, Tristan must reveal the secrets of what happened those years he was away - and find the love that was closer than he ever imagined....