Newly-wed Lady Juliana Beamish has much to look forward to but her future turns bleak when the ship she is voyaging on is attacked by pirates.

Captain Drake O'Hara serves no master and only one mistress – the sea. On course for Jamaica he is reluctant to waste time investigating wreckage strewn across the ocean's surface but when the debris offers up a beautiful survivor, he has no option but to take her aboard.

Drake undermines her every notion of what desire is but, uncertain if she is still a wife or might already be a widow, Juliana is unwilling to dishonor her marriage vows. Returning to England is the only recourse she has to determine her status. Can she continue to resist Drake or will she surrender to the unrelenting passions he has stirred in her?