The story is about two people, who had a one night stand 6 years ago, marrying against their will to give their children, which the male lead did not know he had fathered until his sister had a chance encounter in a different country, the best financial and emotional environment. They work through their issues and find love in each other. The main character of Marriage: To Claim His Twins is Ruby Wareham. She is is 23 year old, slender, blonde woman living with her sisters and her twin sons. The secondary character is Alexander Konstantinakos(Sander), a powerful Greek god of a man(dark haired, dark eyes, muscular, tall).
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The story opens in Greece. Sanders sister, Elena, is accusing their younger brother of fathering two children she had seen, and snapped a picture of, while in an airport in England. Nikos, Sander and Elena's youngest sibling, is denying that the two children, who are marked with the family's telltale features, are his. Sander is shown the picture and he recognizes the girl kneeling between the two boys. He had had a brief encounter with the woman in a hotel room 6 years prior.
In the next chapter, Sander flies out to the address his private investigators had tracked Ruby to and rings the bell. Cleaning, she hopes the person gives up and goes away but he does not. When she opens the door she is faced with an unwanted vision from the past. They converse, him constantly reminding her of her shame, her constantly trying to control her anger over him trying to lay claim to the twins. She tries to deny that the children are his but is shut down after seeing a picture of the twins next to his face. They look just like him. Sander offers to care for her financially in return for her releasing custody of the boys to him so he can take them back to his home, the island of Theopolis. They argue for a while coming to the conclusion that the boys need both parents, but not without insults and opening old wounds. Ruby suggests they get married because she is not going to sell her sons to the billionaire and she hopes he will back down from a marriage to her and go away.
Sander thinks she only wants his money and throws that in her face. Shocked she tells him she will sign a prenuptial agreement. After more conversation Ruby changes her mind and no longer wishes to marry Sander. Ruby, who had been home alone, realizes as a car pulls up that it was time for her sons to be dropped off by a neighbor. She goes out to retrieve them. The boys ask about the expensive car in the driveway and Ruby brushes it off telling them it is just someones car.
Ruby and Sander, meet in a bar 6 years prior to the setting of the story. Unbeknownst to Sander, Ruby is a virginal girl who was coerced into drinking and the bullied into following a more experienced girl to the bar. The bar is known for unscrupulous, rich footballers so girls wanting to find a rich boyfriend flock there essentially selling themselves. The girl, Sander, disgusted yet looking to blow of some angry steam he takes advantage of Ruby's drunken willingness. In the morning he kicks her out of bed and rudely offers her 100 pounds for her services. Park of the reason he was so rude was because his grandfather was pushing him to get married and bend to his will. Sander was angry because his grandfather had tried to control him and all his siblings their who lives, he distrusted Ruby(and all women) because of the way his mother had treated him and his siblings as a duty instead of with love, and how he treated his loving father as a blank check, and he decided he did not want ever get married. While he is in England on business but you do not learn that until later in the book.
IN chapter two, they all go inside and the boys meet Sander for the first time. They are cautious and protective of their mother but they quickly become comfortable around Sander after he fixes a quarrel by offering to buy them toys if the boys promise not to quarrel anymore. Ruby feels a lot of emotions because of this. She had a long standing concern about the boys needing a father figure but she would have never guessed it would be their natural father. She had long since refused to find a mate because she did not want to risk the boys having a long list of "uncles" or stepfathers. She decides to sacrifice herself and marry Sander for her children after all.
While the boys are are upstairs playing Sander and Ruby continue talking. Sander expresses his conditions for the marriage. She is to take birth control pills(every chance he gets he throws the way the met in her face making her out to be a harlot out for male attention constantly), she is to avoid speculation by dressing and acting as a person that fits his station, and she is to sign a prenuptial agreement. Angry because Ruby claims she will not have sex with him because she does not to have sex with a man like him, Sander kisses her and they melt into an intense sexual encounter.
Soon after, Sander makes arrangements to take his new found family to London. where he also makes arrangements for the wedding and their move to Theopolis.
The day they leave for London Ruby is almost knocked over and Sander catches her noting that she is thin and is also not wearing a coat. He tells himself he does not care. However he also notes that his sons are strong and solid compared to her. The author alludes to her going without so her sons can have what they need. The brief contact ignites unwanted sparks and sensual memories. Since Ruby has packed one shabby bag it angers Sander because he thinks she is hinting at a new wardrobe.
When they arrive in London they stay at a ritzy hotel with three suites. One for the boys, one for Sander, and one for Ruby. While in London Ruby reluctantly accepts Sanders terms to fit the mold of a society woman. She has her hair done, a make over, buys an expensive new wardrobe complete with a wedding dress, and he buys her an engagement ring with two perfect twin diamonds. During this time Ruby has a few days long headache with nausea that eventually passes.
One day while they are in London Ruby puts the boys down for a nap, takes a bath, and then takes a nap mostly nude. When she wakes up three hours later she realizes her boys are not anywhere in the hotel room . She fears Sander has absconded with her sons. She knows on the island of his birth, since he is rich and also part of the ruling family, he would have all the power he needed to take her sons away from her. Her fears are abated when the boys and their father returns from a day out.
After she collects herself and after the boys have settled down to watch television she confronts Sander about taking them out with out asking her. He lets her know that he shouldn't need to ask because they are his kids too and he now has legal rights because of their marriage. Somehow the conversation ends in Rubys' room. She accidentally exposes herself to Sander and he then initiates another sex scene. After they have sex he tells her she will not be having sex with anyone else and he will be the only one satisfying her "insatiable" sexual appetite. He does this not without insulting her and basically calling her a streetwalker.
Meanwhile Sander and Ruby are battling their true feelings for each other even through their memories and their difficulties. They have an unemotional private marriage ceremony and prepare to go to Theopolis
On the private jet to Theopolis Ruby and Sander find themselves softening ever so slightly as they learn more about each other. Sander tells her a bit about the history of his home and how he runs the island now. In the hotel room you learn Sander isn't just a shipping company owner he is also of the ruling family on his island. Anyway, they start to see each other in a different light.
When they touch down it is dark. They take a golf cart like vehicle to a car which takes them by the palace, which Sander explains is no longer his familial home, to the new estate he built for himself. On the ride to the estate Sander recounts, to himself, what happened between him and his grandfather and how he found himself in the Manchester club where he met Ruby. Sander remembers the circumstance in which their meeting took place. Sanders grandfather was the patriarch of the family and the ruler of Theopolis had always been a controlling hardhearted entity in Sander and his siblings' lives. As children his grandfather knew everything that was going on in their lives and struck fear into the younger two Konstantinikoses. Even before Sander was born his grandfather was this way.
The patriarch bullied his son into marrying a woman that did not love him, Sander's mother. Sander's mother apparently loved another man but the author does not go into detail. Basically all you are told about the family is that Sanders mother was a terrible mother and a greedy person. She only cared about Sander's fathers' money and only had children because it was her duty. The Konstantinakos' money was all she was after. So she spent little time with the kids and most of her time trying to get away from the island, not without instilling a life long distrust and distaste of women in Sander. All you know of her husband is that he was a loving man but also did not seem to have time for the children either. Later you find out that Anna, the woman that currently runs Sanders' household, basically raised him and his siblings as a surrogate mother.
Anyway, Sander remembers the last couple of conversations he had with his grandfather. Sander had come to find that his grandfather, ever controlling was pushing Sander to have heirs. He had planned to announce that Sander was going to marry a widow of a suitable family. The widow was a drug addict and gold digger and Sander was having no part of it. Sander threatens to set up his own shipping company or find a job with a rival company of his stubborn grandfathers' business. They leave each others company at odds with each other. Sander goes to England to meet with a possible future client of his future company. They businessmen end up in a notorious bar where footballers are known for partying and girls are known for throwing themselves at the footballers. This is where he meets young naive Ruby. His thoughts are interrupted when they wheel around to the front of the house.
Sander disappears after they are greeted by the motherly Anna. While Anna shows Ruby and the boys around their new home. Ruby establishes early on that Anna is a good person and wants Ruby to be the good mother she is.
After Anna helps Ruby put the boys to bed Ruby realizes she will be sleeping with Sander. Instead of being excited she wants to stay with the boys where it is "safe". However, she ends up going to his and her bedroom where yet another sex scene.
The next chapter opens with the family by the pool. Ruby realizes that she may pregnant. Ruby thinks the stress she had been under may have cause the pills to be less effective. She knows Sander will be mad and she knows she will have to tell him eventually. During this chapter Sander finds himself seeking the company of his wife. Sander finds himself in his office trying to work but he can't seem to pay attention to the job at hand. He finds himself again recounting his life, his grandfathers controlling ways, his mothers neglect, and his shameful behavior toward his wife. He recounts in detail again the encounter he had in the hotel with Ruby the night he first met her. He also remembers brutally throwing her out and treating her like a prostitute He is forced to admit Ruby is a good mother. At some point, Elena calls and demands a visit so that she can meet her new sister in law. Sander agrees to a visit and arranges for the two of them to fly to Athens where Elena lives.
Sander tells his wife they are going to Athens to visit his sister and Ruby decides she will tell Sander after they get back from Athens. In Chapter ten, Ruby reveals she trusts Sanders' judgement when dealing with the kids and this has an effect on him that he did not expect. His guard is let down but that is quickly repaired as he remembers why he is the way he is. As Ruby is packing Anna tells her that she will like Elena, and explains that Elena talks a lot, but is a sweet woman. While talking to Anna, Ruby she realizes she loves Sander. She hopes the the new baby will be a new beginning for the two of them.
Sander and Ruby go to Athens for a couple of days. Ruby finds that she really likes Elena as Anna had said. Sander discovers, as Ruby unfolds and laughs with Elena over dinner, that he is warming up to Ruby. Sander realizes he wants to make love to Ruby instead of angrily pounding her. On the way back to their hotel room Sander reaches for Ruby's hand and Ruby accepts his hand. In the hotel room Sander is tender with Ruby telling her she is beautiful. He then initiates a beautiful sexual experience that is loving and mutually special to them both.
The next scene takes place back at their estate in Theopolis. After meeting the boys, Ruby goes to take the pregnancy test she bought from a pharmacy in Athens. The test confirms what she suspected and she wants to tell Sander immediately, but she hears a crash, and a cry outside near the pool. She rushes out with Anna behind her, to see what happened. Meanwhile Sander had come to seek her out because he missed her and he finds the discarded pregnancy test. After the situation with the boys is taken care of she starts back in the house and is met with a furious Sander who confronts her about the pregnancy test. He accuses her of concealing her pregnancy from the beginning of their reunion.
She finally explodes angrily. She tells him that he is too blind to see that she is a good person. She tells him she can't believe she loves him which is the first time he hears that. She screams that she does not want her sons to be contaminated by his hate of women and that she would rather divorce him, damaging her sons in the process, and they would be better off than to continue raising them with him. She does not want one child to be treated differently than the other two. She says she will allow the baby to be DNA tested after it is born and it will be proven to be his child but he would be too poisoned by his own false beliefs by then that it will not matter. She tells him she was a virgin when they met and a naive child who was looking for safety. She tells him that she made a mistake and had not been with any other man since him especially since he had treated her so badly. After blowing up she doesn't wait for his response and she leaves the room. She goes toward the garden, him watching her all the way, and she falls down a flight of marble stairs in her emotional state. Sander runs to her. Her only concern, before she blacked out, was her baby.
Ruby wakes up in the hospital. The first thing she finds out is that the baby is fine. The doctors were going to terminate the pregnancy but Sander would not allow it. Sander had a doctor from England, the finest there is, flown in to care for her. She is awed that Sander would not allow the pregnancy be terminated, because he had initially accused her of running around. The nurse says that Sander knew that she would not forgive him if he agreed to allow the pregnancy to be terminated. Sander appears and during their conversation he reveals that he loves Ruby; that the knows the baby is his;that he is sorry for causing her to fall, and that he had in fact blinded himself because of how his mother had treated his father.
The next chapter takes place after her recovery. Ruby and Sander go back to the island. They are blissful and happy. They make love and it is evident that they are changed for the better. The book ends with Ruby surround by her sisters, their husbands, and children in a hospital room. Everyone feels lucky and loving. Everyone is cooing over the new baby girl and it seems everyone is happy and will remain that way.
Best part of story, including ending:
I do not like the way this book is written. There are so many holes in the story. Ruby and Sander never really have a true conversation with their children about Sander being the boys father. It also seems, when something big happens, like Sander realizing he has fathered a couple of kids and there is very little background on that. He just finds out he has two kids and then the next scene he is in the UK. There is a little bit of information on that but otherwise the switch over is abrupt. This book frequently skips the build up to an event and just jumps into the event very abruptly.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene happens in the master bedroom after Sander found the discarded pregnancy test and confronts Ruby with it. After he finishes accusing her of being and doing all manner of things she did not do she lets him have it. She tells him exactly what he is and lets loose all the anger she had been holding in.
Opinion about the main character:
I dislike that the secondary main character, Sander, is so angry when he has sex with Ruby. It is off putting to read a romance book where the sex is motivated by anger. A couple of those scenes read like he is borderline raping Ruby.
