James & Barbara Ryan
Introduced in 1980 as a widower and controlling ex-lover of heroine Barbara Ryan (who was pregnant with his unborn child), he quickly staked his claim on his family and caused Barbara to break her engagement with Tom Hughes. James and Barbara married that as she gave birth to his son Paul Ryan. However the marriage turned out to be James only means to an end. His role as the first Stenbeck husband and father of his generation secured his place as the rightful heir to the family fortune, and he began pursuing other women outside of the marriage, which included his mistress Margo Montgomery and Dee Stewart. The Stenbeck family was very wealthy seeing as how they were heirs to the Swedish throne.
In addition to his adultery, James also dabbled in drugs and stolen goods smuggling, using Barbara's business Fashions Ltd. which he'd purchased for her as a front for his illegal activity. When Barbara found out about all this, the marriage was put at risk, though James managed to calm her down for a time, by having Margo sidelined and trying to be more of a husband to her, it soon became even more rocky when Barbara grew more disenchanted with James.
Barbara had an infatuation with new-commer Gunnar St. Clair, a Stenbeck cousin she had met at a family event. Eventually she told James she was leaving him for Gunnar, and James, desperate to maintain his hold on the Stenbeck inheritance through Paul, told her she'd never get custody of their son. James had a further setback when he discovered that he was not, in fact, the true Stenbeck heir when Greta Aldrin revealed she'd switched him at birth with the true Stenbeck heir, giving the Stenbeck heir to an orphanage. In fact, his rival Gunnar turned out to be the true heir to the family fortune. Though James sought to conceal the truth, his arch-nemesis John Dixon had also discovered the secret tape in which James admitted to his sister Ariel Aldrin he wasn't a Stenbeck.
Read more about this topic: James Stenbeck
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