As Marietta Danver's conveyance sped across the wintry Russian landscape, not even her sumptuous furs could keep out the sudden chill of apprehension. Was she letting wounded vanity lead her into danger? Her heart had been broken . . . but could she really forget by running off to St. Petersburg with Count Gregory Orlov? Soon it was too late for regrets. Gregory Orlov-- the tall, broodingly handsome, wildly passionate Russian, notorious as Catherine the Great 's uncrowned emperor--revealed the violent nature which took pleasure in her torment. She was no more than his prisoner. . . snared in the intrigues of a glittering imperial court... pursued by the rage of a jealous empress. . . thrust into the savagery of revolution. Defenseless and nearly broken, she resigned herself to death, or worse. Yet the man she had run from, trying to forget, had not forgotten her. . . or the dreams of love they once shared.