This is book 1 in the "By His Royal Decree" series.
Maksim Yurkovich is Crown Prince of Volyarus. From an early age, duty to the throne and his people was drilled into him. He also grew up witnessing his parents' dysfunctional relationship. At the opening of this story, you see Maks enjoying a romantic relationship with Gillian Harris. He is all set and eager to propose until a wrench is thrown into his plans. He was able to catch a look at a recent physical Gillian had. In the results, it mentioned something in her medical past that led Maks to believe the odds of her being able to get pregnant and give birth were extremely low. Even though Maks claims to not believe in love, to say that he was disappointed by the findings would be a gross understatement. However, duty to his royal office is intrinsic to who he is. Providing heirs to the throne is something he feels obligated to do. Gillian is devastated when Maks breaks up with her. The irony is that the reason he did so was because he believed she couldn't conceive, but he finds out that she recently found out that she was pregnant with Maks's child. He, of course, goes to her and demands they marry right away. She is still hurting over the breakup and doesn't want to marry if he doesn't love her. She tells him that if he loved her, he never would have let her go so easily. She lectures him about the importance of love, what it is, and how it's worth fighting for. He, very astutely, counters by saying that by Gillian's own definition she must not have really loved him since she let him go so easily and didn't fight for him. I enjoyed the verbal dueling (never got really nasty) and the battle of wills between this hero & heroine. You could see both points of view and how the dysfunctional relationships both sets of parents had on their decisions and insecurities. I also loved watching Maks try to woo Gillian and make her feel about him as she once did. Very sexy.
The next book in this series is Prince of Secrets also by Lucy Monroe.
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