Hoping to carve out a meaningful role in the royal family of Sondmark, Clara needs to prove to her mother that she can be the perfect princess. Perfect means opening mass-transit car parks and giving speeches on childhood nutrition without a hair out of place. Perfect doesn't mean developing a crush on an unnamed military officer she sees once a year. But infatuation is a victimless crime, and nobody ever has to know.
When Princess Clara falls into his arms in front of a bank of photographers, Lieutenant Commander Max Andersen of Her Majesty's Royal Navy is thrust into the tabloids, the gossip threatening his promising career. He hates the sudden glare of media attention and hates how it diverts focus from his job. But the way Clara feels in his arms is a different story.