Emma Fraser willingly accompanies her spoilt cousin Anne to Russia in 1761, where she is to marry Prince Nikolai Adashev, for it can hardly be worse than her present life as unpaid drudge. On their arrival in St Petersburg she is horrified to find that the man she took to be a fellow servant is Prince Michael, head of the House of Adashev. It is Michael who has arranged Anne's marriage, and he has plans for Emma too. But how can she trust him when he has already deceived her once? Especially when he seems to be so closely involved with the Czarine Catherine. As Catherine's struggle for control of the country intensifies Emma is caught up in the fierce battle and the man she most mistrusts is the one man she finds irresistible.