There can be but one empress... Finally willing to choose a bride, Emperor Jahn of Columbyana has decided to have a last bit of fun by going undercover as a sentinel to collect his next candidate. Unfortunately, the young and beautiful Lady Morgana Ramsden has no interest in becoming an empress. Infuriated by her refusal—and determined to teach the haughty woman a lesson—the disguised emperor strikes a bargain with her stepfather and claims her as his bride. Determined to avoid a loveless marriage, Morgana is mortified by her predicament. But as she crosses the unfamiliar landscape toward the palace, a virtual prisoner to her prospective groom, she slowly finds herself succumbing to the handsome sentinel and his sublime seductive pleasures. It is not long, however, before duty calls the emperor, and Jahn must find a way to reveal the truth without losing the woman he has come to love. He never expected that he would not want the charade to end—or that the woman he has fallen for has a secret so devastating that it will likely destroy them both.