"Tell me, just what is it you do want?" Lady Helena asked.

He rested his foot on a brass andiron and stared into the lifeless hearth, the muscles of his leg flexing beneath the close-fitting fibre of his jeans. "I'm a soldier who has

returned from the peace-making battlegrounds only to find he has no way of making a living in his pack."

So, he truly was an Alpha. Somehow Samantha had known it, but why was her wolf calling him mine? He wore the uniform and the look of a predator far too

well. And there was more. There was darkness she sensed inside him, as though he had crawled his way out of hell

but could not escape the memories. And somehow that darkness beckoned her. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter." He inclined his head, glancing up from the blackened streaks of fires long dead to smile at her. "You can call me Dave."

Dave, the man she dreams to be her mate. Samantha crossed her arms below the high waist of her emerald gown. "I would prefer

not to call you anything, except gone."

He chuckled under his breath.

Samantha clenched her teeth. How dare the villain laugh at her!

Helena lifted her quizzing glass, studying him for a moment before dropping the glass, the lens swinging on a blue satin medal pinned beneath the high waist of her gown.

"How much do you want?"

"Although you have a substantial income, I believe I can do much better as Miss Samantha's husband."

The full import of his statement hit Samantha square in the chest, like a blow from a prizefighter. "If you think for one

moment I will permit your fortune-hunting scheme, you are very much mistaken."

He looked at her, his dark eyes reflecting the light of the lamp burning in the wall sconce above his head. "You need a husband, I need a position."

"This is preposterous." Samantha paced the length of the library. She turned when she reached the glass-fronted mahogany bookcases across from the smiling rogue, her body trembling with fury. "I have no intention of allowing you to waltz in here and step into the role of my husband."

He studied her for a moment, a smile playing at one corner of his lips. "I believe you have little choice in the matter."

"I have spent the last few years of my life avoiding fortune hunters like you. If you believe for one moment-"

"Samantha," Helena said, her voice cutting like lightning through Samantha's tirade.

Samantha glanced at her grandmother. "What?"

Helena tapped her purse against her open palm. "He has us at dagger's point, my dear."

"But I..." Samantha hesitated, the reality of her grandmother's words seeping through the fury fogging her mind.

The man had her trapped. She stared at the rogue, anger congealing inside her along with a terrible fear. Dear goddess, she had invented a husband to avoid marriage to a

fortune hunter want to over her father's company, only to find herself trapped by her scheme. "Never in my life have I met a more contemptuous-"

"Calm yourself, my dear," Helena said. "There are a few matters we need to clarify with the gentleman."

"Gentleman. Hah!"

Helena ignored Samantha's outburst. "Now, I would like to clarify the terms under which we shall operate, Alpha. I understand you expect to live in this house as my grand-

daughter's husband, and be the pack Alpha which."

"I would rather live with swine." Samantha crinkled her nose at the rogue. He grinned in reply.

"Samantha, please control your temper." Helena tapped her purse across her palm. "This is a matter to be discussed with

a cool head. I don't believe I have to remind you who is responsible for this situation."

Samantha's throat tightened. "No."

"Now behave, while we negotiate a few points."

"Grandmother, you can't expect me to live in this house as that rogue's wife,"

"Relax, Miss wolf. I have never in my life seduced an innocent woman. I'm after a position. Not your virtue."

He might have slapped her across the cheek. He felt nothing for her. Nothing at all. While she had imagined him the life and blood of her fantasy. Oh, it was all far too

humiliating to discover how very wrong she had been.

A rogue.

A fortune hunter.

Dear moon goddess, it was entirely too much to absorb. Samantha sank to the edge of a couch near the windows and listened as her grandmother made a bargain with the devil Alpha.

Helena stared at the tall man standing near the lifeless hearth. "I will expect you to behave like a gentleman toward

my granddaughter."

"An intelligent man knows better than to get too close to an angry tigress." He smiled at Samantha. "Especially a tigress who likes pistols."

"Yes, well, my Samantha does possess a temper. I'm afraid it's something she inherited from me." Helena lifted one

finely arched brow. "You would do well to realize that if you harm her in any way, I will find a way to make sure you are punished. Quite severely, Alpha."

The rogue didn't flinch as he held Helena's intense gaze. "As I said before, I don't have a taste for seducing virgins."

Helena nodded. "I assume since you will not find comfort with my granddaughter, I believe she is not your mate, and she hopes to find her mate someday and when he appeared you will disappear meanwhile you will seek companionship with some Cyprian or another. In doing so, I must insist

you be discreet."

"Grandmother!" Samantha stared at Helena, appalled at her grandmother's meaning. "I cannot believe you are giving this man leave to carry on some tawdry affair while he is

masquerading as my husband."

"Well, dear, he is a man. If you don't plan to satisfy his needs, then I think we must be realistic in acknowledging that he shall have them satisfied elsewhere."

"I will not have my husband sleeping with some whore," She said knowing how it would hurt to have him mate with another.

"Samantha dear." Helena addressed her as though she were speaking to a bewildered child. "He isn't your mate."

"That isn't at all the point." Samantha clasped her hands in her lap, trying to keep them from trembling. "What would pack people think if they discovered that the man claiming to be my husband was seeking his pleasure with a whore?"

"Precisely why I'm insisting he be discreet."

"I won't have it." Samantha felt shivering deep inside her. "My husband will not maintain a ladybird."

Helena pursed her lips as she stared at Samantha. "I doubt you shall have any say in the matter."

Samantha looked at the rogue who had invaded her life. He was watching her, a smile barely lifting one corner of his

lips. He looked like a lion who was lazily contemplating whether he would eat her for dinner or amuse himself with her for a while first.

"Are we agreed, Alpha?" Helena asked. "You shall be most discreet in these matters?"

"I will do nothing to cause the lady any embarrassment." His lips curved into a devilish grin, mischief lighting his eyes. "It wouldn't do to have pack people believe Miss Wolf is unable to satisfy her husband."

Samantha shot to her feet. "My husband will find no need to seek comfort in the arms of another woman."

He shrugged, broad shoulders lifting beneath blue fibre. "I can only wait to see if what you say is true."

Samantha curled her hands into fists at her sides. "You shall wait until the sun freezes over."

He laughed a dark rumble that came from deep in his chest. "You display such passion, I must say I am quite overwhelmed."

"Oh, you-"

"Samantha!" Helena drew a breath in exasperation. "Please control your temper."

Samantha opened her mouth to protest, but the stern look on her grandmother's face quelled her. She nodded, silently

calculating ways she would repay the man for his insolence.

Helena looked at the rogue. "It seems there is little more to say. If you don't mind, I would like a few moments alone

with my granddaughter."

"I'm certain the young lady will need some reminding of the advantages of playing along with this little drama.'

He looked at Samantha, his dark eyes probing hers, as though he could pierce her defences and read her mind. "Think of

it this way, Miss Wolf, you need a husband as much as I need a fresh start. It is to our mutual benefit to cooperate."

Samantha lifted her chin. "I would never have taken a roguelike you as a husband."

"No? And here I thought we were rather well suited as a mate."

"In your wildest dreams."

He smiled, a wistful look entering his midnight eyes.

"Perhaps you're right."

A disturbing sense of despair settled over her as she watched him stride from the room. She couldn't stop that hopeful, terribly romantic Wolf within her from wishing things were different. If he were only the Alpha figure he appeared, she could quite easily fall in love with him. As it was, he was her enemy. And she must find a way to beat him.

Helena drop her purse and stared down at the painted silk. "Quite an intriguing man."

"I find nothing intriguing about the rogue."

"No?" Helen eyed Samantha with a look that told her she knew otherwise. "I thought you might have found him quite exceptional."

"Perhaps, when I first saw him," Samantha toyed with the gold satin at her waist. "I might have thought him attractive. As my mate."

"Yes, he is certainly that. And such a quality of command about him."

"Grandmama, you can't possibly find anything of equal it's about such a rogue."

"I believe you are mistaken, Samantha." Helena tilted her head, "I would risk he comes of excellent stock.

"You can see the noble cast to his features, those high cheekbones, the sharp line of his nose. And his address was learned from the cradle. I wouldn't at all be surprised to

find he is a second or third son of an Alpha. Yes, I definitely can see the blood of nobility in him."

"Nobility!" Samantha paced the floor like a tigress testing the limits of her cage, crossing squares of gold edged in

black, her satin slippers silent against the wool carpet.

"That man is an out-and-out villain."

"I understand it can be very difficult for a man who wishes to leave the army these days,"

Samantha paused beside a globe on a walnut stand in a corner of the room. "Grandmama, you aren't suggesting you

are in accord with the rogue? He is blackmailing me into accepting him as my husband."

"Yes, well, there is that." Helena tapped her finger against her chin. "Pity, he is such a splendid-looking man.

"His looks disguise a black soul." With a flick of her wrist, Samantha set the globe spinning. Her lack of judgment infuriated her as much as the fact that the man had

failed to live up to her expectations. She was a fool. How could she ever have looked at the man and imagined him as the embodiment of her dreams? "How do you suppose he discovered the truth? Do you suppose Jack let it slip?"

"Never." Helena was quick to defend her bodyguards,

"But Jack took us to the magistrate. He is the only one who knew what we were about that night."

"Jack has been with me for eleven years. I took him in when he was set up by his pack members, and nearly killed him. When he had no place else to go. He would defend me and my secrets with his life."

Samantha nodded, thinking of the big man with the flattened features who served her grandmother as a devoted gamma.

"Then how did the rogue discover the truth?"

"Samantha, it doesn't matter. The damage has been done."

Samantha groaned her frustration. "I cannot believe you agreed to his demands without a fight."

"Tell me, my dear, what did you expect me to do?"

"We can't let him get away with this."

"And what do you propose we do to prevent him from carrying on with his plan?"

"I don't know." Samantha paced the length of the room, slapping the drapes as she passed the windows, setting heavy gold velvet swaying. Oh, she wanted to scream. to her wolf-confused voice out and run to the forest. She wanted to march into that ballroom and announce to the world he was a fraud. Of course, she could do nothing. At

least not at the moment. She might be in check, but the rogue would find it difficult to put her in checkmate.

She paused at the fireplace, tapping her foot on the spot where he had stood. "I shall not allow that man to ruin my

life."

"Samantha, you aren't going to do anything foolish."

"Of course not." Samantha lifted her chin, smiling as she imagined the day she would see her "husband" pay for his

sins. "But you can trust I shall think of a plan."

Helena rolled her eyes to heaven. "I was rather afraid you were going to say that,

instead of planning for him to pay, why not choose him as your mate, I saw the spark between both of you."

"Grandma!"

"It's just a suggestion."