He was a reserved and Noble aura, His appearance was outstanding, and she couldn't help but glance at his sharp features he was the most handsome man she had ever seen her heart jump wildly in her chest as she noticed his curly thick eyelash, his dashing eyebrows with harp high nose, and thick lips, she wasn't close enough to see his eyes color.

A gold dress side of his thigh, buff-color trousers molding the muscular curves of his long legs before plunging into shiny black Hessians, One look, and Samantha forgot to breathe.

"Samantha, there is something I've been meaning to ask you," Anna said.

"What?" Samantha asked, her gaze never wavering from the tall, dark-haired man who was making his way across the room. He moved with the easy elegance that came when strength blended with agility. Power was evident in his every stride. This was a man men would follow into hell.

And women would wait breathlessly for his return,

"I've been worried."

"Worried?" Samantha noticed heads turn as the Alpha made his way through the crowd. Women cast admiring glances his way. Men gazed with a touch of envy at this

tall, commanding figure.

Who was he? Samantha was quite certain she had never met him. Oh no, she would never have forgotten this man. Even

if she had merely glimpsed him before.

"About your marriage." Anna kept her voice so low that Samantha had to incline her head to hear her sister.

Although Samantha was not excessively tall for a woman, her sister was several inches shorter than she was, small and delicate, a perfect flower of the town. "Samantha, you didn't abandon your dream, did you?"

Samantha tore her gaze from the Alpha officer, glancing down at her sister, "What do you mean?"

"You didn't marry simply to allow me to meet my mate, did you?" Anna twisted her cloth. "Oh, Samantha, I couldn't stand it if you married someone you didn't love or your for any reason."

The concern in her sister's huge blue eyes tugged on Samantha's heart. They had always been close, sharing their hopes and dreams. This was the first time she had

ever kept a secret from her sister. She resisted the urge to

confess everything, knowing she had no choice but to keep her secret. Anna would never approve of her deep love. deep mustn't fret about me.'

"But, Samantha, it all happened so quickly. I still can't believe you were married by special license. An elopement!

Samantha, you do love your Alpha Blake, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Samantha glanced down at the embroidered ivory purse edging one short sleeve of her sister's pink

muslin gown. As she progressed in her career as a liar, she was discovering it was most difficult to look into someone's

eyes when she twisted the truth. "You and I made a pact, remember. Neither of us would ever marry unless were seen as our mate and

deeply in love as Mama and Papa are."

"I know. But, Samantha, I also know how hard you fought to have Mama and Papa send me to allow me to have my mate,

even though I wanted you to meet yours first. I couldn't live with myself

if I thought you had married someone simply because of me."

"Then it is time you stopped torturing yourself. I'm quite content with my handsome Alpha."

"Then it is true?" Anna's eyes pleaded for the

formation of her hopes. "He swept you

your feet?"

Samantha took Anna's clenched hands in hers. All the lies made sense when she looked into her sister's sweet

face. The chance to see Anna happy was worth the

price of her integrity, she assured herself. "One look at Alpha Dave Blake and I knew he was the only man for me."

"I know how careful you've been ever since..." Anna caught her lower lip between her teeth. "Ever since that unfortunate incident that happened during your first

relationship with the Alpha that claims to be your mate."

Samantha stiffened at the memory of her near escape from a disastrous marriage. "It was an excellent lesson. One I have not forgotten. One you should never forget."

Anna nodded. "But you married Alpha Blake so quickly. How can you be certain he is not the same type of horrible creature that awful Alpha Avesbury was?"

"I am no longer the same wet goose I was that first year in the full moon festival ." Samantha squeezed Anna's hands before leasing her. "You can be certain Alpha Dave Blake is not a fortune hunter,"

Anna sighed, the strain leaving her pretty face.

"And do you tremble when he touches you?"

"Like a leaf in a strong breeze, I'd feel a spark like electric ran through my body " Samantha glanced past Anna's shoulder to where the Alpha was greeting her

parents near one of the two refreshment tables in the room.

In some strange way, this man had stepped straight out of her fantasy. This is how she imagined Alpha Dave Blake would look as if he truly existed. He didn't, of course.

That was the problem. Samantha had invented him. Alpha Blake was no more than a figment of her imagination.

"You always said that for each of us there is one person destiny has meant us to meet," Anna said.

"Only one." Samantha drew in a breath that trembled in her lungs as she stared at the Alpha. There was something

about him, an aura of command, a solid strength that she could feel across the room.

"And now I know it's possible. I can find that one special destiny has meant to be my mate."

"Of course, you can. We must never settle for anything less than to marry for your mate's affection, Anna. And we must be very careful not to be tricked by clever frauds."

Anna touched her arm, and when Samantha glanced down at her sister she saw admiration shimmering in her

eyes. "I only hope I can be as strong as you are, Sammy."

I know how much Mother and Father want to see each of us settled with our rightfully mate,"

"When you think of the life you will spend with your mate, you will know you can't live with an imitation of love." Sammy would never abandon her dream of finding her only mate. Not if she had to wait until she was eighty before she met that very special man. For her now, he lived only in her imagination.

Six weeks ago, out of a sense of duty and sheer despair auction Samantha had given this fantasy a name she had borrowed from a popular playwright and one of her favorite

authors. Dave Blake became an Alpha who had been in London for a few days before heading back to the Peninsula, just long enough to elope with Samantha, At least

That was the fairy tale she and her grandmother had coined.

It had all seemed so simple at the time. The perfect solution to her dilemma. She could stop the fruitless search for a mate among the fortune hunters Alpha who are looking for wealth and power, and Anna could meet her mate. Of course, she didn't plan to stay married to her fictitious mate forever. She fully intended to become a widow after a few months. As a widow, she could take her time to find the one werewolf she was meant to marry. He was out there. She was certain of it.

Samantha stared across the room to where the handsome Alpha was talking with her parents. She could tell even from a distance that this was the type of man she had always dreamed of meeting. Honest. Brave. Loyal. The type of man a woman could trust with her dreams. Who was he?

"You always were the impetuous one, Sammy." Impetuous. And a hopeful romantic, Samantha thought. She

would never give up hope. She had a peculiar notion that her special mate might be close. She watched the

Alpha pressed his lips to her mother's hand. Yes, he might be very close indeed.

"An elopement, imagine. How utterly romantic."

"Yes." Odd, her mother and father were greeting this

man as though he were a long-lost son. Father couldn't

seem to stop shaking his hand. Mother was staring up at

this dark-haired officer with something close to awe in her

light brown eyes.