Eve laughed. Julian panicked. He couldn’t understand her laughter. What did she find so funny? His whole life rested in her hands.
“Okay, I, uh, I got the first part of the question, but I—I think I misunderstood the last part of it,” Eve said as she continued to laugh. “I’m so excited and thrilled, my ears are ringing. It sounded like you said will I marry you in an hour, but with the queen theme going I’m assuming you said in a tower.”

“You didn’t misunderstand, that is what I said. I want to marry you in an hour,” Julian explained.

Her eyes got as big as golf balls. “An hour?! Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious.” Julian couldn’t stop looking at her. Eve defined the word stunning. She always looked beautiful, but at this moment he knew heaven sat right before his eyes. “Did you have fun today?”

She sighed. “Did I? Julian, it was incredible. The tiara, scepter, and cape were a bit extreme, but I loved everything. I felt like royalty.”

“As you should.” He caressed her cheek and wondered how the softest skin in the world could get softer. “You are my queen, and everything you’ve seen today and everything you’ve experienced is yours. A limo to take you everywhere you go, daily shopping sprees, spa treatment whenever you want it, this jet. I got a little ahead of myself with the monogram, but EJC is not Enjoyable Journeys Corporation, it’s Eve Johnson Crane. All of it is yours, and it’s nothing, Eve. The one thing I want in this world is what money can’t give me. The absolute right and privilege to call you my wife. All I need is your okay.”

“Julian, you know I want to marry you.” She pressed her warm, slender hand to his cheek. He moaned. His heart skipped a beat at the feel of her touch. “I love you so much.”

He held her hand to his face, and kissed her open palm. “Is that a yes?”

She groaned. “How can we get married in an hour? We need a blood test and a marriage license.”

“We have that.”

“How?”

“Like the song said, ‘Nothing is impossible for you.’ I know people, Eve, so getting the marriage license was a cinch. As for the blood test, you had a checkup a couple of weeks ago. You told me about it the day before, so I got a lab tech to take a sample of the blood you had drawn for the routine test you had done. Voila! Blood test and marriage license.”

Eve closed her eyes and sighed. “I want to say yes, Julian, but what about my girls? I want them to share in the happiest day of my life, and I just…I can’t get married without them knowing about it.”

“I know that, too. I talked to your daughters and they’re both going to be at the house for my wedding,” he said making quotes. “Whitney got into town yesterday.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You talked to them? They know about us?”

He shrugged. “Well, yes and no. They both know I’m madly in love with my bride to be, however, only Simone knows my bride isn’t Rebecca, but she doesn’t know it’s you. I told her all about my great love.” Julian laughed as he thought of his day with Eve’s youngest daughter. “We had a great talk, Simone and I. She is a wonderful young woman, Eve. You should be very proud of her.”

“I am. I’m proud of both of them. You talked to them about this?”

“In a roundabout way. I asked them how they felt about you and TC moving on with other people. The thought didn’t exactly thrill them, but they want you both to be happy, and if it can’t be together, they can accept it with others.”

“So, you think they’ll be okay with this?”

Julian thought about the answer to this question all day. He nodded. “Yes, I think they will. They’ll be shocked, but if they object it will make them look like hypocrites, and they wouldn’t want that. I can’t promise hearts and flowers from them or anyone else, but I can from me.” His hand tightened around hers. “I love you with all my heart, Eve, and I don’t want to wait another day to make you my wife. The clock is ticking, my love. Everything is ready and waiting, all I need is you. So, will you marry me?”

“In an hour?”

He took a quick glance at his watch. “Now it’s fifty-three minutes.” Needle prick-like tingles attacked. Julian rubbed the side of his leg. “My darling, my uh, my knee is starting to go numb.”

Eve scoffed. Her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “Am I taking too long to give you an answer? You expect me to shout out the answer you want to hear when the marriage is supposed to happen an hour after the proposal? This is a life-altering decision, you know?”

Julian swallowed the dry lump in his throat. His pulse pounded and his heart dropped to his stomach. This reaction didn’t make his list of desired responses. “Eve, I--”

She held up her hand, stopping his flow of words. “No, let-me-finish!” she said, emphasizing every word. He gulped, not daring to interrupt her now. “You think a day of shopping and being pampered, limos and jets, crowns and scepters, love songs, roses, and a diamond ring are all going to make me rush into your arms and shout, ‘Yes, Julian, I will marry you in a hour!’ two days after I signed divorce papers? Did you?”

He closed his eyes for several moments. Did she have to say it quite like that? “You left out giving you my heart and soul, but yes, I did.”

“Well, I have news for you, pal! You were absolutely….” Julian looked down at the bouquet of roses on her lap, bracing himself for the knockout blow. She lifted his chin. “You were absolutely right. But all that stuff wasn’t necessary, though I am growing attached to this tiara.” Her laughter filled the jet plane. “All I needed was you and my girls, and I have that. Or at least one and a strong possible of the two.”

“Is that a yes?”

She nodded. Her gorgeous smile encompassed her beautiful face. “Yes, that is a yes. Let’s get married, Julian.”

He released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “You shouldn’t torture me like this,” he said, slipping the ring on her finger and pressing a kiss to her hand.

“That’s what you get for springing surprises like that on me.” She stared at her adorned finger. “I think I’m going to need a wheelbarrow to carry all these carats.” She laughed.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it, but not nearly as much as I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Cupping her cheek, he captured her rosy lips in a deep, promise-filled kiss. She groaned when he put a premature end to their growing passion. “You’ll get more later, I promise, but for now we have got to go.” Julian got off the floor and helped Eve out of her chair and off the plane. “Grace is waiting for you in the limo, you can explain to her on the way over, because she is totally in the dark on what’s going on. The driver is going to take you to a guesthouse on the estate where Sally will be waiting for you with everything you’ll need. The next time I see you will be at the altar. Unless, do you want me there when you talk to the girls? I can do that? I only need a couple of minutes to give Rebecca the boot.”

Eve laughed. “No, I think I should handle this part alone.”

He gently tugged the curling lock dangling against her cheek. “You’re--you’re not going to change your mind if things….”

“Shhh.” She brushed her lips against his. He licked his tingling lips. Eve’s kisses were like nectar. He couldn’t wait to have her in his arms and in his bed tonight. “I hope the girls stay and support us, I really do, but even if they don’t, I’m not going to change my mind. The only way this wedding won’t happen is if you change your mind or Rebecca doesn’t take your boot well.”

Julian laughed, not the least bit worried by either of those things. “Then, I guess we’re getting married.”

She smiled. “I guess we are.”