Three years after the sudden death of her husband, Lucy Blacker Swift has finally got things under control. Leaving behind the cutthroat world of Washington, Lucy and her two children move to a Vermont farmhouse and start to rebuild their lives. But a string of unexplained events?late-night hang-ups, a bullet through a window?threatens her new life.<P>Unwilling to turn to her powerful father-in-law, Senator Jack Swift, Lucy tracks down Sebastian Redwing, an international security expert her late husband asked her to contact if she ever needed help. Sebastian, though, wants nothing to do with her problems?or with a woman he's been half in love with since her wedding day.<P>But Sebastian knows he has no choice, and reluctantly he becomes drawn with Lucy into a dangerous tangle of blackmail, vengeance and betrayal, with Lucy's powerful family?and Sebastian's troubled past?smack in the middle.