"Are you saying you own me? " Samantha could hardly take it all in. How could her stepfather have fallen so deeply into debt that he'd bartered for more time with his only remaining asset--Samantha. Yet had Alex Nicholas not purchased his old friend's contract before it hit the open market, Samantha would have been auctioned off to the highest bidder. Instead she was being forced to marry a man she would never even like, Alex projected a raw virility that was almost electrifying. But he was not Samantha's free choice. And for that he would be made to pay!