Alex Barton is a laird of his lands and a captain married to the sea. Handsome, sharp-tongued, and unapologetically shameless, he takes women without reverence and leaves without consequence. Rakish and whorish by his own admission, Alex never calls anyone his. He stays for a night. Never longer. Until duty forces his hand. On a mission far from home, Alex rescues Yvonne Efango, a woman hunted by King Oyomo and marked for death. He brings her to his ancestral home, not as an act of love, but as an obligation. One that shocks his family, unsettles his clan, and rattles a man who has never been responsible for anyone but himself. Yvonne unsettles him anyway. When closeness threatens to expose what Alex refuses to face, he does what he has always done best. He leaves. Disappearing for weeks, he believes distance will quiet what he cannot control. When a life is lost, Yvonne realizes that betrayal by a king and faith in Alex's promise of protection never kept her safe. Love never guarantees permanence. Some losses happen in silence. And some love stories demand restraint, instead of redemption.