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"There's no way that fool is going to wind up being your husband," he asserted. His voice cracked slightly.
    She looked at Aaron and he saw something else there, another side of Eva. A tiny, slight smile creased the corner of her mouth. She seemed to be pleased at the emphatic nature of his declaration. There was almost a look of hope now on her face.
    "There is, perhaps, a way out of this," she said quietly, her eyes widening.
    "What do you mean?"
    Eva took a deep breath and looked at Aaron.
    "I don't know what you're going to say to this, so I'll just come out and say it straight," she said.
    Aaron's eyes locked on Eva's, peering deep into them, expectant.
    Eva drew in a deep breath. Suddenly Aaron was sure that Eva was examining him, scrutinizing Aaron, trying to make sure that whatever it was she was about to say to him would be taken seriously.
    "What is it, Eva?" Aaron asked. He felt a knot of anxiety twist in his middle. Finally he saw Eva nod, as if giving herself permission.
    "Aaron. Would you consider becoming my husband?" she asked, speaking in an even tone of voice.
    Aaron looked at Eva and knew that, no matter what answer he gave her, even if it was the one that came first to his mind, his life from this moment on would never be quite the same.

CHAPTER FIVE

    There! She'd done it.
    Eva had asked him the one question she'd never have thought in a million years she would ever ask any man, let alone Aaron Stewart. And, judging by the expression on his face, he'd been stunned by what she'd just said to him. The color had drained out of his face and made his always pleasing features look only a little less handsome.
    Aaron didn't say anything at first. His posture had stiffened, his lips tightened and his brows furrowed. She could see confusion in his eyes. He looked like he was busy trying to make sense of what she'd said.
    Eventually, after an interminable silence, he spoke. "Did you just ask me to marry you?" he asked quietly, his voice quivering slightly.
    Eva paused and then nodded. "I guess I just did," she said softly trying to contain the surprising emotion in her voice.
    Aaron's frown deepened, and she saw him begin to shake his head imperceptibly. "I thought you did," he said. "I just needed to check that I heard you right."
    Eva sighed. "I'm sorry I was so blunt about it. There didn't seem any other way to say it," she said.
    Aaron nodded. "I suppose there wasn't," he said. He peered deeply into Eva's eyes with a searching, probing look that made something tumble inside her."Are you being serious?" he asked after a long pause.
    Eva nodded. "I am. Never been more serious about anything before," she admitted curtly.
    Aaron nodded. "I can see that," he said. The way he was looking at her, Eva couldn't exactly tell how he was feeling about the proposal she'd just made to him. And that was what it had been, she realized with consternation. She'd just proposed marriage to Aaron Stewart! As if the day couldn't get any more astonishing and perplexing. Eva felt like there was a hidden force driving her toward a destiny which, before today, she would never have guessed even existed.
    Until her father's recent illness she'd never had any doubt about what lay ahead in her future. There had been such a certainty and confidence inside her about how she would live out her life. But, today, all that conviction had been thrown away in a matter of a few hours. She no longer knew what her fate might be.
    It looked like she had to make a choice between marriage to a man for whom she felt nothing but revulsion, or marriage to a man with whom she had a complex past that, frankly, she hadn't quite figured out yet. For a very long time Eva had felt vague and barely admitted feelings about Aaron Stewart. The two of them had bumped shoulders over the years. Sometimes it had been on friendly terms, and other times there had been frictions which Eva's father had always worked hard to resolve. Eva and Aaron had history, and it had