On the fast track to a partnership with her accountancy firm, Kate is stunned when she is fired for suspected embezzlement. Forced to cope with the sudden reversal of fortune, Kate returns to Pretenses, the exquisite boutique run by her friend Margo and sister Laura. But when persistent, persuasive Byron de Witt enters her life, the flames of passion he ignites begin to burn as brightly as her all-consuming career ambitions...

Surrounded by the sweeping cliffs and beauty of Big Sur, Kate Powell treasures her life at Templeton House and the family who raised her like one of their own. Although Kate lacks Margo's beauty and Laura's elegance, she knows she has something they would never possess—a shrewd head for business. Driven by ambition, Kate measures her life's success with each soaring promotion. But now faced with accusations of professional impropriety, Kate feels that she has lost everything she's worked so hard for. Which is when Byron DeWitt walks into her life and Kate is forced to reevaluate exactly what it is she's fighting for.