She might have realised, Tess Carlen thought bitterly, that when her stepmother invited her to spend the summer with her in Tangier, there would be strings attached. Clare, it seemed, had two suitors - the rich but solid Victor Mears, and the glamorous Ramon Guevara - and it was to be Tess's task to keep Victor occupied until Clare discovered just where she stood with Ramon. Tess's misgivings grew stronger when the English doctor, Philip Westland, warned her that Ramon's reputation was unsavoury even in such a place of mystery and intrigue as Tangier, but Philip failed to warn her about the final complication - that of falling in love with a man who had no interest in her.