In 1814, with Napoleon finally defeated, the great and the good of Europe descend on Vienna to plan a lasting peace – and to dance. Ejected from her home on the death of her father, Lizzie Gaunt - along with her gaggle of siblings and a large, unruly dog - finds herself in Vienna with her diplomat uncle. But Lizzie is determined not to remain dependent upon her aunt and uncle for long. After witnessing a daring theft, she recruits the unusual thief to carry out her plan – which should hurt no one except her father’s heir, the vile Russian cousin she’s dubbed Ivan the Terrible. However, Lizzie’s simple scheme is soon complicated by a wounded Austrian spy, a formidable English matron, a masked Russian rakehell from the Emperor’s masquerade ball, and a mysterious villain selling information that could ruin the Congress before it properly begins. And then there’s Cousin Minerva’s romantic difficulties, and Cousin James’ gambling debts to sort out. While Vienna dances, Lizzie tries to solve everyone’s problems, and ends by falling disastrously and dangerously in love.

Intrigue, suspicion, and true love at the Congress of Vienna. Esther Lisle, daughter of a general turned diplomat, wakes up in the Vienna Woods to find her royal betrothed dead and an agent of the dreaded Austrian secret police asking her awkward questions. In trying to protect her father and her country, she enters a battle of wills and wits with the mysterious Agent Z. From masquerade balls to desperate escapes, the more she gets to know him, the more fascinated she becomes. And the more anxious to discover the truth. Is he deceiving her? Who killed the crown prince, and who is threatening her own life? It seems there is no one she can trust, and yet Agent Z is always there to aid or provoke her. By the time he abducts her to his very odd home in the Vienna Woods, staffed by young and only partially reformed criminals, it breaks her heart to believe he is the villain of the piece.

En route to Vienna, where the great powers of Europe are making peace and elaborate entertainments, spirited Russian countess, Dunya Savarina, is rescued from ruin by Captain Richard Trelawny, a wounded British officer who has given up on life and happiness. Resourcefully, Dunya secures Trelawny’s alliance in her master-plan to marry her first love. After all, having lost an arm and an affiancéd bride in rapid succession, the captain is clearly in need of her peculiar brand of help in his own affairs. Together, they embark upon a deception intended to win back their old loves. Roused from indifference by Dunya’s whirlwind vitality, Trelawny adroitly handles his sham engagement, hostile family, wicked seducers, espionage, elopements, and duels, all the while protecting Dunya and trying very hard not to fall in love with her. And Dunya begins to suspect that first love is not always the greatest love – or even the most fun.

Vienna, 1814: Europe makes a historic peace...and dances. Colonel Francis Wolfe, military hero and the new Earl of Warenton, is prepared to do his duty and marry well. He has almost decided upon the well bred and beautiful Miss Sylvia Renleigh, without ever noticing the quiet young woman who is her aunt's over-worked companion. Until Elise practically walks under the hooves of his stallion. It never enters his head that she was daydreaming of him. Impoverished emigrée, Elise de Sancerre, knows that the earl would never normally look at her. Yet when they meet again at a masked ball, where the world expects him to propose to Sylvia, everything changes. Throw a managing sister and a missing tiara into the equation and all bets are suddenly off.