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they could sit across from each other and reason away their mutual attraction. It wasn't as simple as that, but she'd need to reach that realization herself.

"All right." He sought nothing more than to be with her. It wouldn't have mattered what they did. In many ways, he felt he was already fully acquainted with Hannah. He knew he loved her. He knew he wanted her to be his wife and the mother of his children.

How or when he'd come to realize all this, he couldn't answer. He was a man who dealt with facts, who argued cases. A man who generally was uncomfortable defining feelings. But when it came to Hannah Morganstern, Joshua found he was an expert on identifying his emotions.

"Come on," he said, tucking her hand in the crook of his arm. "I'll buy us a cup of hot chocolate."

A fragile, tentative smile touched her mouth. Her beautiful, kissable mouth.

"I'm beginning to think we're both a little nuts," she said.

"I couldn't agree with you more, but it's a good kind of crazy. Being with you makes me happy, Hannah. You're beautiful and generous and loving."

She lowered her head, uneasy with compliments.

Joshua found a table, and after she was seated, he walked over to the refreshment booth and bought two steaming cups of hot chocolate.

When he returned, she glanced up at him shyly. "The most amazing thing happened this evening."

"Oh?" He sipped from the edge of the paper cup, the steam wafting upward.

"When I told you I couldn't meet you, it wasn't because I didn't want to. Carl had asked me to attend the candle-lighting ceremony with him. It's the first day of Hanukkah," she told him unnecessarily.

"I know."

"I knew there wasn't any way I could possibly break our date. Then at the last minute Carl phoned. He came down with the flu."

That explained why Hannah was late. She'd been at the synagogue with her family and then rushed from there to Rockefeller Center.

"When I left in such a hurry, I'm sure my parents thought I was going to see Carl . . . instead I'm meeting another man." Sadness coated her words. It was clear she hated deceiving those she loved.

"I'm sure that given time, your family will learn to like me as much as they do Carl," he assured her gently. He regretted bringing the other man into the conversation. It seemed they spent half their precious time together discussing the rabbi's son.

Hannah's gaze drifted to the ice skaters and then back to him. "I hardly know you myself."

"Ask me anything you like," he invited her.

"You've never married?"

"No. I've been waiting for you, Hannah Morganstern." By the way the color drained from her face, Joshua realized he'd said the wrong thing. He didn't mean to rush Hannah. Because he was confident didn't mean he had to get cocky.

"I'm engaged to Carl," she whispered. "Doesn't that matter to you?"

"It matters a great deal." He wasn't going to lie. When she'd told him, he'd been both frustrated and angry. Later he'd realized just how fortunate it was that they'd met before the wedding. "I figure I found you just in time."

He didn't ask her if she felt the same way. Didn't bombard her with questions. That wasn't necessary. He already knew. She felt everything he did, only for her, it wasn't so simple. Tied up with her feelings for him was a lifetime of adhering to her parents' wishes.

"I'll go to your family," Joshua offered, "and explain."

"Explain what?" she asked miserably. "There's nothing to tell them, Joshua. I haven't changed my mind about anything."

Chapter Nine

Hannah had no intention of staying with Joshua. Her only purpose in meeting him was to explain once and for all that a relationship between them was impossible. It was too late for them. She was engaged to Carl now, and they'd soon be planning their wedding.

That had been the reason she'd decided to meet Joshua: so he'd know. Yet the moment she'd found him, her heart had been filled with a yearning, a wonder, that she couldn't reason away.

She couldn't look at him, she feared, and not reveal what was in her heart, so she focused her attention on the ice skaters. As a child she'd loved it when her mother had taken her to this very rink. Although she'd struggled to remain upright, Hannah had enjoyed the simple pleasure of gliding freely over the ice. When she'd tired, she'd sat and watched others, admiring the skillful athletes as they'd leapt and