His Royal Love-Child

Danette Michael's has been Principe Marcello Scorsolini's secret lover for six months. They agreed to keep their relationship secret in order to avoid the paparazzi, but now it's not enough for her. Marcello makes it clear that he doesn't want to marry anyone again after his wife died several years ago. That all changes when Danette discovers she is pregnant, but she doesn't want to be married simply for the sake of her baby.

This is the second book in Lucy Monroe's Scorsolini Princes (or Royal Brides) series. It's marginally better than The Prince's Virgin Wife, but not much. Danette is supposed to be a smart woman, but she sure thinks like an idiot. Marcello forgets to use condoms half the time, and she excuses this by deciding that he wouldn't mind if she gets pregnant, ergo he wouldn't mind marrying her, ergo he must secretly love her, or at least care deeply for her. What? It's pretty clear to me that if a guy doesn't bother using condoms even though you are not in a long-term relationship, he just doesn't really care about you and he's pretty irresponsible.

Marcello is a jerk. He discovered years ago that he has a low sperm count, and his wife never got pregnant. He assumes that this makes him sterile, but the reader of course knows he's going to get Danette pregnant. As soon as characters interpret low fertility as being infertility, you know there's going to be a surprise "miracle" pregnancy. Although I understand his reasons for keeping his relationship with Danette secret, it doesn't explain Marcello flirting with other women. He claims that he has to keep up his playboy image so that people won't question his sexuality and pry too hard into his private life. Seems more like a very flimsy excuse to play around, to me. I wasn't impressed to say the least.

In the end Marcello and Danette manage to convince each other that they love each other and live happily ever after. They both annoyed me so much that I really didn't care.