A brilliant scholar, Lisaveta Lazaroff is both beautiful and outspoken, an independent woman who refuses to play by the rules that govern men and society. A bold attempt to ride through the Turkish desert alone nearly ends her life, until she is rescued by a man who stepped out of her dreams. He is Prince Stefan Bariatinsky, a warrior in a land as divided as the spoils of war, a man whose passions are as intense as the battles he wages. His only weakness lies in a woman who challenges him for the one thing he has never lost: his proud heart.