#1 New York Times bestselling author Johanna Lindsey displays her "mastery of historical romance" (Entertainment Weekly) with a dazzling novel about a stolen princess who must save her king and country by wedding the palace guard who wrongly imprisoned her.

Assassin Leonard Kastner agrees to commit an abhorrent crime for an astronomical sum—kill the infant heir to the European kingdom of Lubinia. Just as he is about to carry out the heinous deed, the baby awakens...and smiles at him. Losing his heart to tiny Alana Stindal, Leonard sweeps her out of their homeland to safety in England where he conceals her true identity from her and gives her an education fit for a queen.

Eighteen years later, when the king of Lubinia faces a revolt because he has not produced another legitimate heir, Leonard knows he must take Alana home to prevent a civil war. But at the Lubinian palace no one believes Alana is the missing princess. Christoph Becker, the captain of the palace guards, arrests Alana because he suspects she is a pretender or a seductive assassin. When the king recognizes Alana as his long-lost daughter he proudly betroths her to the one man he believes is capable of protecting her and eliminating the shadowy figures who are determined to destroy his dynasty—Christoph Becker.