The door opened and Eveline’s eyes shifted to watch the parade of people waltz into the room, the air of business as usual pervading the space in a suffocating manner.  But while they might make these decisions lightly, attend these meetings regularly, and follow protocol because the rules were the rules, this gathering of important people would decide the fate of Eveline’s life.  If Colin wanted her, he would have her.  She had no say.  The best she could hope for was the genetics committee would find some reason to keep them apart, but if she’d made it this far, she could only assume that all the tests and match data had come back positive.<br/><br/>She remained a statue while the woman traipsed around to set up the monitors and prepare the room.  No expression crossed her face, the blank stare leaving her parents to question just how she would react when Colin made his appearance.  Her parents stood as the lawyers entered, handshakes and introductions commencing, but Eveline kept her seat like the piece of property she was – just a young woman being sold through a business transaction from one man to another.<br/><br/>She didn’t object to the way of life. Philosophically connecting people through perfect matches to enhance humanity and attempt to rebuild the numbers lost in the Great War was logical and admirable.  And Colin MacGregor was the perfect man for a woman of her status in every way except for one.  Eveline could not deny that a woman of her breeding would provide him the most perfect children, beautiful on the outside, intelligent, poised, ambitious on the inside.<br/><br/>Lost in thought, she didn’t notice Colin enter until he was speaking, his voice strong and powerful.  Eveline’s eyes widened slightly in surprise before she recovered as his handsome features registered in her mind.  She’d always known he was good looking, from the ads for his company to the television broadcasts where he’d spoken on the advances made by his scientists, but in person he was more than just a good looking face.   There was an overwhelming aura to his presence, a power that crushed the room with its magnitude.  Looking away was impossible.  Her gaze was anchored to his, her vivid azure irises meeting his light blue gray with an intensity that challenged her potential mate to ask all the wrong questions.<br/><br/>“Colin,” she replied, taking cue from his informal use of her name to match with his own, “I don’t believe there was an option on the invitation as to whether I could or could not attend.  Thus, I did not choose to be here at all.”  Eveline’s lips curved into the slightest smirk and from the corner of her eye she could see anger lace lines on her father’s forehead while her mother clearly fought to bite her tongue.  But both held back their words.  They would buy her no favors by stepping in when the question was clearly meant only for Eveline.