When Queen Victoria, the 'Matchmaker of Europe' decrees that beautiful young Zenka must marry King Myklos of Karanya she is horrified. Not only because she's never even met him – but also because her sister Wilhemina has. And she reports that the King is "…a beast, rude, disagreeable, and horrible to look at! His face is deformed and ugly." Even worse, it's said that he holds depraved orgies at his Castle in Karanya!

But her Godfather the Duke of Stirling and his new, much younger Duchess, who is bitterly jealous of Zenka's beauty and Royal Blood, have accepted the King's proposal on Zenka's behalf and insist there's no going back. She is trapped.

But as Zenka journeys in the Karanyan Royal Train, towards her new life and loveless marriage in a foreign country, it seems Fate has come to taunt her in the shape of a charming stranger who appears under cover of darkness in her private carriage. A thief in the night, he steals a kiss that Zenka will never, ever forget.