It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now all these years later, she had to laugh at the sheer perversity of fate. He was sex personified. She was just a small town librarian.

Standing in front of her, dressed in a black silk shirt and leather pants, he had to be six feet, seven inches of sculpted, mouth-watering, sexy muscle. He was the kind of guy mothers warned daughters to avoid, and best friends advised, “Sure, enjoy the ride while you can, but he’s gonna break your heart eventually.”

His hair, cropped close to his head military-style, was pitch black. His face was all masculine angles. He was beautiful in a warrior kind of way. He looked about thirty-five years old, with quite a few of those years tough ones. This was no pretty-boy, sensitive, in-touch-with-his-feelings man. This guy was total danger. He was completely out of her league.

She was pretty much cotton gowns, a good book, and a cheery nightlight. He was sweaty, forbidden, no boundaries sex in the dark. As her eyes met his fully for the first time, she saw that they were a searing, penetrating blue. Within that gaze, she saw the blue flame of intense desire and possession. He wanted her, no doubt of that, but even more frightening, his gaze roamed her body as if he had already claimed it. Repeatedly. Intimately.

Sharon felt like she’d stepped off of a cliff. Her heart was pounding, her skin was flushed, and she had an impulse to scream. She dropped her eyes to the carpeting in pure panic.

This had been a really big mistake. Maybe doing her duty and registering had not been a good idea. Maybe she’d just paste a smile on her face, look him in the eye and say, “Look, I know we’re supposed to be getting engaged, but could you maybe find another fiancée? I can’t have screaming sex with you. I’m just a librarian, for goodness sake. I’m not really adventurous. I don’t really want to live on another planet or meld minds or whatever alien activities are required. I’ll just be running along now…” With a deep breath, she raised her eyes to his and felt the words trap in her throat.

He was smiling. In fact, he looked on the verge of laughter. The sudden amusement softened his features a little, making him more approachable. She wasn’t fooled. It made him even more dangerous.

With a little annoyed sniff, she squared her shoulders. Okay, she was scared, terrified even, but if he was going to keep laughing at her, he was going to be sorry-she‘d find a way to make him pay. She took a deep breath. Her hands clinched and she leaned toward him aggressively. Her knees might be knocking, but she would show him that she was not afraid of any big, smirking, sexy, annoying guy. Ever. He’d better understand right now that she was no pushover.

Liken looked at the little beauty standing so scared and defiant in front of him, and felt his heart rejoice. She was perfect. Her five-foot, eight-inch frame was practically vibrating with nerves and outrage. She was both beautiful and courageous. He appreciated the beauty, but she would need the courage in the times to come. She was fighting his effect on her now, but that would change. He would make sure of it. First, though, he had to get his own arousal under control.

She had long, black hair that dropped just past her shoulders. Seeing it in person, rather than telepathically, made him ache with the need to run his hands through it. He wanted that hair spread across his pillow. Or better yet, across every inch of his body. Her eyes were likemer stones, deep green and seemingly lit from within. Her face was not classically Shimerian beautiful. The mouth was a little too full, the nose a little too pert. The overall effect on his senses, however, was devastating.

He wanted that face looking at him with desire, with need. He wanted those full lips swollen and tender from his mating or rather, from his lovemaking. When on Earth, think like a human, he chided himself.

Yet even with that thought, his eyes drifted down the rest of her body. Full breasts, the nipples hardening beneath his gaze, were heaving with her rapid breaths. The tips were little defiant points underneath the traditional white blouse. It was fitted to her body, but not tightly. The scooped neckline showed the upper swell of creamy curves. He could tell she wore no undergarment, and those tight nipples were stiff and visible.

Going lower, he saw a small waist, tapering outward to full hips. He felt his hands flex with the need to sink his fingers into those curves and pull her toward him. The white ceremonial skirt fell all the way to the ground. What would those long legs look like? And what would they feel like wrapped around his hips?

Calling on all his discipline, he again raised his eyes to hers and felt the jolt to his soul. She would be his. He had no doubt. Attempting to ease her fear, he said, “Do not fear me, Sharon. I am merely invoking our oath. I am your pactmate, Liken da’Kamon. I would never harm you.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said a little too quickly. They both wondered if she meant to convince him or herself. “Why would I be afraid? This is just the ceremony. I don’t think we’ll be at all compatible. I think we should just say our words and then when it’s over, you can go your way and I’ll go mine. At the end of the knowing period, we’ll just meet back here and file incompatible.”

“You are mine. You will leave with me.” The words were out of his mouth without any thought. Seeing her eyes widen, he fell back on Shimerian strategy. Timing was crucial to gaining any objective, particularly with females. “We will speak no more, Sharon, until after the ceremony. We should not be speaking now. Go to the pactmaker and wait for me.” With those words, he turned and walked to the other side of the room.

He might as well have said “Get thee to a nunnery!” like some classic Shakespeare character. Sharon, shocked speechless at his arrogance, stood there until she felt a slight tug on her arm.

Turning, she looked into her friend Kate’s face and said, “I amso out of here. No way can I go through with this. How dare he order me over to the pactmaker like I was some child to command? What was I thinking? Kate, we have to find a way to get me out of here.”

Kate, her friend since elementary school, knew her only too well. “Shar, what did he say to you? You look scared to death. Did he threaten you or something?”

Turning back toward the other side of the room, Kate leveled a glower toward the Shimerian males gathered there. Finding the one who had frightened Sharon, she gave him a look meant to kill him on sight. To her disappointment, he merely raised an eyebrow.

The male he was in conversation with, however, grinned widely at her and gave a mocking little nod with his head. He was arrogantly gorgeous and his hot gaze, as it raked her body, felt incredibly familiar. He looked enough like Sharon’s looming problem to be his brother.

She felt a shot of unease, and immediately turned her back on him. Shaking off the disturbing feelings, she asked Sharon, “What happened?”

Sharon, wrestling her own demons, missed her friend’s exchange with the other warrior. She shrugged and said, “No, he didn’t threaten me exactly. He more or less told me to shut up and go stand by the Pactmaker. I can’t do it, Kate.I know when we registered we thought we were doing the right thing. But now, I’m freaked.”

She struggled for calm as she remembered the beginning of this mess. “You know, when you’re eighteen, you think you know everything. You have such high ideals. Registering seemed so simple. It was my duty. All of us felt like that. I don’t think any of us really thought about what would happen if the Shimerian male showed up to fulfill the pact. I mean, what are the odds? Only about one in twenty thousand is ever called to fulfill the pact. I know it’s my duty as a human to go through the ceremony and observe the customs, but I don’t think I can.”