Kyle Donovan has freed himself from the constraints of his father's high-powered global trading empire to turn his passion for adventure into a livelihood, roving the world as a treasure hunter for his own business, Donovan Gems and Minerals. Now his oldest brother, Archer, President of Donovan International, has given Kyle an assignment with explosive international implication, and an alliance that will shake the very core of his being.

Lianne Blakely, the illegitimate daughter of a powerful Hong Kong trader and his American mistress, has spent years studying the art of ancient jade, hoping to win the approval of her Chinese family. A brilliant gemologist, she has gained employment in the Tang family business, if not acceptance in the family. Now the Jade Emperor, one of China's legendary cultural treasures, has been stolen and Lianne is accused of the theft.

At first suspicious of the bright, ambitious family outcast, Kyle finds himself reluctantly believing her fierce claim of innocence and irresistably drawn to her exotic beauty. Soon they have joined forces to find the real thief-a venture that draws them into the perils of spiraling international power plays, and the discovery that their mutual love for an exquisite gemstone has linked them in an alliance as enduring as the beauty of the ancient jade.