In all of her wonderful "New York Times" bestsellers, Jude Deveraux crafts more than just a magnificent story: she creates positively unforgettable characters who live on long after the last page is turned. In this sizzling new novel, she features a hero from one of her best-loved families -- the dashing Montgomerys -- and entwines thrilling sensuality, warmhearted wit, and hotblooded suspense.

A rising star at a Manhattan corporation, Fiona Burkenhalter is a New Yorker through and through, with a New Yorker's disdain for anywhere but the city's bustling streets. When her boss inexplicably sends her to handle a new account in the Florida Everglades, it may as well be another planet to city slicker Fiona. But this is no ordinary business meeting: Fiona is to join her client on a rustic fishing expedition, accompanied by a guide with the larger-than-life name of Ace Montgomery.

More than a little steamed at this detour from the executive fast track, Fiona never imagined that she'd embarked on the wildest adventure of her life -- or that the rough-hewn, undeniably handsome Ace Montgomery from the Southern backwoods would become