A boy's game From the time he was a young boy playing in the swamps of Louisiana, Jason Montgomery knew one thing: He would someday claim the beautiful Desiree as his bride. No matter that she lived on the massive plantation called Whispering Oaks and that he was penniless: no matter that her family would never agree to their union or that she didn't even know that he existed. Jason vowed that he would take her in his arms and kiss her raven hair; taste her creamy flesh and make her surrender to his forbidden love... A woman's longing From the moment she stepped into the ballroom, Desiree felt her eyes drawn to the magnetic gaze of one man: Captain Jason Montgomery. She had heard tales of this daring rouge and of his womanizing reputation and knew she should fear him and keep her distance. But when Jason gathered her into his strong embrace and swept her to the dance floor, Desiree knew something else - a feeling of fire burning through her veins, a passion mounting deep within her, making her blind to everything other than the wild beating of her own rebel heart.