Coral Sinclair is a beautiful but naive twenty-five-year-old photographer who has just lost her father. Sheâs leaving the life sheâs known and traveling to Kenya to take ownership of her inheritanceâthe plantation that was her childhood homeâMpingo. On the voyage from England, Coral meets an enigmatic stranger to whom she has a mystifying attraction. She sees him again days later on the beach near Mpingo, but Coralâs childhood nanny tells her the man is not to be trusted. It is rumored that Rafe de Monfort, owner of a neighboring plantation and a nightclub, is a notorious womanizer having an affair with her stepmother, which may have contributed to her fatherâs death.
Circumstance confirms Coralâs worst suspicions, but when Rafeâs life is in danger she is driven to make peace. A tentative romance blossoms amidst a meddling ex-fiancĂŠ, a jealous stepmother, a car accident, and the dangerous wilderness of Africa. Is Rafe just toying with a young womanâs affections? Is the notorious womanizer only after Coralâs inheritance? Or does Rafeâs troubled past color his every move, making him more vulnerable than Coral could ever imagine?
Set in 1970, this contemporary historical romance sends the seemingly doomed lovers down a destructive path wrought with greed, betrayal, revenge, passion, and love.