When twenty-year-old Laura, after a careful, sheltered upbringing, was suddenly thrust into the turbulent household of the 'dark Trevaynes' she felt young and defenseless, and always overshadowed by her glamorous cousin Cleo.

There had been three Trevayne brothers; one, Troilus, was dead, but Cleo, as his widow, considered herself a true Trevayne, and was indeed as unpredictable as the arrogant Dominic or the philandering Perry.

Yet the 'family beast' of the Trevaynes was the unicorn, a strange, wild creature who, so the legend said, would only be tamed by a gentle maiden . .