"I accepted you as payment on a gambling table because you're incredibly beautiful and I want you for the same reason."

His smoldering gaze claimed her long before a poker hand made her his. Tara Brent knew she could never escape this dark and brooding stranger who promised her safety, with a price: marriage and life together in the lush, lethal wilderness of Florida. She didn't even know his name, only the promise of passion, and refuge in his arms...

Jarrett McKenzie swept his ravishing bride away from New Orleans to his remote Florida plantation, determined to uncover the desperate secret from which she ran. He couldn't tell her of his own Seminole roots--or open her guarded heart--until his former commander, President Andrew Jackson, declared war on the Indians, and a powerful enemy from Tara's past found his way to their door...