After losing her mother to cancer, Gabrielle swears off love; because loving hurts too much. She travels to Africa to meet her father a man she never knew and before long there is a baby sister who needs protecting. Promptly, there is another tragedy and Gabrielle realises her wisdom in locking away her heart. But that was before she met Jonathan Knight, a man who amuses and confuses her, and Paul, his best friend, who is just as smart and funny. Through an unfortunate sequence of events, she finds herself in a sticky situation and unwittingly sinks into a morass of danger. A solution comes in the form of Paul, who makes a harebrained suggestion, which Jonathan for reasons of his own grabs and presents her with the providential arrangement. Instinctively, she declines the proposal, but Jonathan is persuasive and paints a wonderful picture of security. She accepts out of need, but soon, Jonathans ulterior motives unravel, and nothing is as it should be.