The Sultan of the Clouds

Mars terraforming expert Dr Leah Hamakawa is inexplicably invited to Venus by the rich child who has inherited ownership of most of the planet's habitable floating cities. Her colleague David Tinkerman, who is secretly in love with her, convinces her to allow him to accompany her on the trip. But upon their arrival, Tinkerman finds himself bizarrely shunted aside as the child satrap attempts to woo his co-worker into marriage, despite the huge difference in their ages. Left to his own devices, Tinkerman decides to explore the floating cities in the beautiful-but-toxic atmosphere - only to stumble upon a mysterious plot which is far more sinister than a January-December courtship.