Book excerpt: Prince Danyal Halabi has always been the black sheep of the royal family, with no responsibilities and no plans for the future. And now thanks to his drinking buddies’ prank, he’s about to prove everyone has been right about him all along. Getting a mail-order bride was just a lark, something his friends laughingly convinced him to do after he’d had one too many. But what started out as a joke is now standing at the palace’s front door with a toddler in tow. Yes, Jayne Barnes is just as beautiful in person as she is in her profile picture, but does she really expect him to marry her? And could their contract be binding? Danyal enjoys his life as a playboy, and the thought of being a father to Jayne’s son and opening himself up to any woman is terrifying. There’s no way he’s getting married. But his older brothers have different ideas… Desperate times call for desperate measures, which was how Jayne got herself and her son, Noah, into this mess. With no home and a near-empty bank account, this mail-order bride business was a Hail Mary that actually worked. Well, would have worked if the prince had been serious about marrying her. Now, she’s stuck here in Al-Mifadhir, at least until the lawyers figure out if the contract they signed is valid. In the meantime, to avoid yet another scandal for the royals, she’s agreed to have a fake courtship to silence the gossips and appease Danyal’s brothers. Spending time with a hot prince isn’t too much of a sacrifice. Besides, her son has bonded to Danyal in a way that is as heartwarming as it is worrisome. There’s no denying Danyal is charming and spectacularly sexy. But he’s hiding something vital from her, and now Jayne has to decide if this man is worth staying for...