With her flaming red hair and emerald green eyes, Xenia’s unusual beauty makes her stand out in any crowd – that is until she unexpectedly meets her long lost cousin, Johanna, amidst the wreckage of a railway accident.

Incredulous at finding her mirror image and desperate for a friend, Xenia’s initial joy is soon replaced by misgivings when Johanna suggests an outrageous plan to swap lives for two weeks. However, these are soon swept aside by her forceful cousin and Xenia finds herself agreeing to help Johanna enjoy ten final days of freedom with the Englishman she loves before her arranged Royal marriage.

As her cousin steals away from the site of the train crash, Xenia suddenly realises all that impersonating Johanna, even for a short while, will entail. Especially as her cousin was travelling to meet and marry her fiancé, King István of Luthenia, and the journey must continue so suspicions are not aroused.

Surrounded by servants and diplomats, Xenia struggles to assume the Royal role that Johanna inhabits so easily and prays that her true identity will not be discovered.

Arriving in Luthenia, Xenia is instantly plunged into a world of political intrigue and drama a million miles away from the quiet life she previously enjoyed in the English countryside. With a Constitutional crisis threatening and rumours of revolution, Luthenia desperately needs this arranged wedding to go ahead to cement allegiances and maintain the balance of power in Europe.

As the Luthenian Court prepares for a grand State wedding and the nuptial date grows ever nearer, it seems that the beautiful cousins have only one desire in common – they both want to marry for love.

But who shall be their bridegrooms?

The King came to Xenia's bed-side and looked at her luxurious red hair shining in the candlelight and at her tender lips, which were trembling because she was afraid. "Do you know how beautiful you are?" he said.

Xenia knew the moment had finally come -- the moment when she must tell him the truth. "I love you!" he cried before she could speak. "I am wildly, crazily in love... I never dreamed I would feel like this... "

"I... have something to... t-tell you." She felt him stiffen and slowly draw back. Xenia took a deep breath. How could she tell him? she asked herself. How could she sweep the happiness from his eyes? ( )

This was one of my mom's old romance books that I picked up in curiousity while I was cataloging them. Oh boy, what a joy. A rather boring retelling of the prince and the pauper, starring a heroine who speaks mostly in ellipses. For instance:

"I can never ... forget that you ... offered your life for ... mine," Xenia whispered.

I will admit that the awfulness of the prose kept me reading, just because I wanted to hear what idiocy Xenia would come out with next. ( )