CHAPTER FIVE

      XANDER UNBUTTONED HIS shirt and threw it onto the bed. He hadn’t intended to bring up the marriage proposal like that. Hell, he hadn’t meant to bring it up at all. She was a nun. Well, close enough to being one, anyway.

      And then there were the scars. He couldn’t pretend they didn’t matter. She was right on that score. He needed a wife that would help improve his image in the public, and before he’d seen her, he’d imagined that she could do that. That their reunion would be seen as a true romance in the eyes of the media.

      But how would they respond to a scarred princess? A princess who had been scarred during the turmoil caused by his leaving? A constant reminder of dark times for all of them. It had to be considered.

      As for him, it didn’t much matter. He would marry someone, he had to. But just because he had to marry didn’t mean he had to be monogamous. He would be honest on that score with whomever he married, of course. But marriage was a necessity because he had to produce heirs, and preferably sooner rather than later. At thirty-six he was hardly getting any younger, and added to that, the people needed assurance that he could provide what was needed.

      His plans were officially screwed.

      Tomorrow, he was taking Layna to Kyonos’s largest hospital, where he would make his first public appearance. And where he would be giving a sizable donation of his personal fortune, and making his intentions of ruling Kyonos known.

      Because nothing eased the way like throwing charitable donations around. At least, he hoped it would ease the way.

      The people loved Stavros. They wouldn’t accept the change lightly. Come to think of it, he was sure it was why his brother remained out of the country, even knowing Xander was back. The bastard.

      He nearly laughed out loud. No, Stavros wasn’t the bastard here. He never had been. The bastard had always been him.

      But it was too late to worry about that now. His decision was made.

      He thought of Layna, of his need for a wife. Some of his decisions were made, but not all of them.