Ah, well, no. Not that I have anything against the profession, but keeping concubines is time-consuming and surprisingly costly. I couldn't handle the overhead. [He says this so straight-faced that he must be joking, but he lets his hand stay in Bel's, for now.] I have plenty of women hanging around at Ivan's mother's request who want to be Empress very badly, even to the point of being willing to stoop to marrying me, but none of them would be good for Barrayar. Anyone who wants the job that badly would be terrible at it, but the trick would be to find someone who doesn't particularly want to be Empress but who wants to marry me. Which then comes with the job of being Empress. You see my problem.

[Gregor swallows a soft sigh and lets his eyes flick back up to Bel's face, widening a little before he thins his lips to a line to flatten out a grin.]

Well, I believe you, but since the person I'm paired with is Breq I think there are certain logistical concerns which may make your plan suboptimal.