An Indecent Proposal

Chapter 5

Prince Christian couldn't believe he had a way to possibly make the treaty work so easily.

Now that the Crown Princess had offered her help, surely it would be easier than thought. Though she was asking him to help her sift through the list of potential suitors, it would allow for more than enough time to help dissuade his father's mind about his impending betrothal.

Which is how he found himself currently looking through a list of Eastumbrian nobles and their sons. He was to find which were most favourable and should be at the top of the list for her Royal Highness to marry.

Truth be told, he would have opted to wed her if she hadn't been the princess. The memories of that night still resurfaced from time to time throughout the day and he knew there had been a connection between the two of them.

Oh, what a shame they were pitted against each other. They would have made an almost formidable pairing.

Alas, the next best thing he could do is to help her find a suitable man to take his place beside her.

He was currently debating between Lord Westerly and the Earl's heir, Mr. Ecclestone. Both were of similar age, only two years older than her, but clearly quite accomplished.

Lord Westerly was the son of the Viscount Westerly, a close family friend of the royal family, whilst Mr. Ecclestone was distant kin of the current king, having shared the same great-great-grandmother.

In terms of their character, they had no major flaws or issues, but there was one thing that one of the men lacked - an attraction to females. Or at least, that's what he heard among the ton.

Lord Westerly was rumoured to have an affinity for exercising his sexual fantasies, but Mr. Ecclestone was truly confirmed to have engaged in relations with individuals of the same gender. While it would present a problem or two for the princess in the long run, she would not be the first to have a husband that did not prefer the opposite sex or that had a debatable history.

After all, there were multiple ways to ensure the siring an heir even with a spouse that liked the same gender.

After that, most nobles had little additional sons other than their heirs, most of which were already married or engaged. Second and third sons were preferable, after noblemen, but most of whom were available lacked honourable characters so they were put at the bottom of the list.

He proceeded to look at the second paper he was given and found it to contain the names of foreign nobles and royals.

Amongst it was his brothers' names, Prince Joachim and Prince Henry. His was excluded, given the list had been drawn prior to his own return from the Rothsbian Navy.

He noticed his cousins' names, the Duke of Wentworth and Lord Reinhardt, Prince of Isbitha. He saw a couple more and imagined that they must have been the sons of nobles since he failed to recognise the rest as royalty.

Grabbing a piece of parchment, he proceeded to made a list of the men he thought would be most suitable.

...

Sophia hadn't truly thought that Prince Christian would accept her offer. However, she was not going to question the reasons behind his acceptance.

Earlier this afternoon, the Prince had sent in his list along with the names of those thought suitable. Various princes and sons of nobles were included; he gave a total of ten individuals.

Crown Prince Henry Rothsby, Phillip Day, Thomas Ecclestone, Grand Prince Gabriel of Thurminia, Lord Westerly, Lord Cambridge, Duke of Wentworth, Prince Reinhardt, and twins Prince James and Prince Sorensen.