From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a new chapter in her celebrated Chesapeake Diaries series, featuring her signature "rich characterization, charming setting, and a romance you'll never forget" (Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Architect Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers. Newly divorced, she's focused on building ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay for her father's construction company. Traveling to Cannonball Island--where there has been no new construction in nearly one hundred years--Cass is sensitive to the heritage of the island, and has come up with plans so perfect she's determined to buy a home for herself. Even the fact that Owen Parker--a local who she dismisses as a lightweight and a player--seems to be everywhere isn't enough to deter her from building her dream house.
Owen Parker is and always has been sinfully handsome and wickedly clever, a magnet for mischief as well as girls. He's a rolling stone, going and doing whatever appeals to him, from flying a mail plane in Alaska, to working on a cattle ranch in Australia, a shrimp boat in Louisiana, and surfing and diving in Costa Rica. When an old friend offers him a job salvaging a sunken ship on the Chesapeake Bay, Owen gladly accepts. Something's been telling him it was time to head home to Cannonball Island, and a job is as good an excuse as any. And he's totally smitten by the pretty architect on the scene, but it seems he's finally met a woman who's immune to his charms. Sooner or later, Owen will have to face the reason why he always runs, because this time, leaving just might be harder than staying.