The Marquis Who Mustn't

Naomi Kwan has wanted a place in Wedgeford's ambulance class since she was sixteen. Each year she is turned away. When she tries again, she is told that an unmarried young woman of Chinese descent cannot enrol without a man's permission.

With no other way in, she points to a tall, silent Chinese nobleman standing nearby and names him as her fiancé. To her surprise, he goes along with it.

His name is Liu Ji Kai, and he is in Wedgeford on family business. He is running an elaborate scheme, and a pretend fiancée who works her way into his plans is the last thing it needs.

The lie turns out to rest on something real. As children, Naomi and Kai were betrothed, and he then disappeared for seventeen years. This is a romance, and the pretend engagement draws them closer while their families' demands pull in opposite directions. The question is how much truth each of them can risk telling the other.