Prince Nikolai Volkhov is known at the Czar Alexander's court as "the Ice King" ­ as famous for his cold reserve as for his lack of interest in feminine wiles. Why, then, should he seem to take such an interest in Tanya, a penniless orphan, almost on the shelf? Snatching at her last chance of gaiety in St. Petersburg before she resigns herself to a bleak, hopeless future, Tanya no longer trusts in good luck. She knows that Prince Nikolai's attentions can mean nothing but heartbreak ­ because, like a fool, she has fallen in love with a man of whom she knows nothing...