Way too young, eleven-year-old Tucker Creed and his six-year-old neighbor, Sylvie Bissenette, find they have something awful in common. Creed then decides he’s going to do everything in his limited power to shield his Sylvie from her ordeal. So he does, and Creed and Sylvie form a bond that grows and blossoms with their ages.

They plot to leave their lives behind, the town they live in that will hold them down, and the histories they share that, unless they break free, will bury them. Sylvie goes to their special place, Creed never shows, and she doesn’t see him again until it’s too late.

With Creed gone, Sylvie is forced to endure a nightmare and do the unspeakable to end it. To deal, she develops a hard shell with sharp edges that very few can break through. When Creed again finds his Sylvie, he discovers the girl he loved is locked away, and he has to find his way back into her heart without getting shredded in the process.

Gabriel Fairchild's valor during battle earns him the reputation of a hero, but it costs him both his sight and his hope for the future. Abandoned by the fiancée he adored, the man who once walked like a prince among London's elite secludes himself in his family's mansion, cursing his way through dark days and darker nights.

Prim nurse Samantha Wickersham arrives at Fairchild Park to find her new charge behaving more like a beast than a man. Determined to do her duty, she engages the arrogant earl in a battle of both wit and wills. Although he claims she doesn't possess an ounce of womanly softness, she can feel his heart racing at her slightest touch.

As Samantha begins to let the light back into Gabriel's life and his heart, they both discover that some secrets — and some pleasures — are best explored in the dark...