A flame-haired Creole spitfire, Micaela Delaronde grew up like a wild flower on the family plantation. Soon, she was the loveliest, richest girl in the jewel box of New Orleans, ruled only by her bold young heart...Defiantly, she ran from her family's bosom, into the arms of Patrick Lynch, the brilliant Dublin-born architect still bound by a secret past that threatened her dreams of their future. To aristocratic Mont L'Eveque and the French baron who chained her in a loveless, ironclad match...And on to the reckless destiny of ther tempestuous desires-a headlong rush into shocking scandal, subtle intrigue, and the promise of an ecstasy without end.