Sitting Pretty

Harmon didn't know how to respond, except to stare. She mumbled something like, "Oh, definitely," and Leno went away at last. Then, minutes later, she's sitting with Leno on the set, and he's giving her the same routine, and this time the show is being taped for an audience of millions. "I was like, Jay, what are you doing?" Harmon says. "I'm thinking, Oh, this is great. I'm going to jail for killing Jay Leno."

Leno, who would tell PEOPLE magazine that Harmon was staring at him with "knife eyes," then surprised her by introducing Sehorn and bringing him out from behind the curtain. Harmon says she could think of only one thing: "Angie, you will never do The Tonight Show again." Then the most amazing, the most romantic thing happened. Jason Sehorn suddenly was kneeling in front of her, offering a diamond engagement ring ("without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life," says Harmon) and asking if she would marry him.

Harmon was so shocked that she felt as though she were sucking all the air out of the room. Her hand went up to her mouth, as much to get it to work as to cover it. She needed half a minute to offer a response: "Jason, oh, my god, baby...yes!"

"We have a video of the show," he says, "and sometimes we pop it in and watch it all over again."

"I watch that tape and I hear Jay cracking jokes," says Harmon, "and I realize that when Jason was kneeling there, I didn't hear any of that. It was him and me and no one else. The ring wouldn't go on, so we were pushing it on, and I was looking at Jason and I was in shock." Friends would tell her she took forever to say yes. Across America people were sitting up in bed waiting for her reply. Harmon was too stunned to speak. "I guess I freaked out," she says, "but what I will never forget is how dear Jason was. He stayed there on one knee until I finally said yes—a good 20 or 30 seconds, which is a long time on The Tonight Show, and a long time anywhere else, especially when you're proposing to somebody.

"A part of me thought I would never do this well," Harmon continues. "I thought I'd end up with a really good guy, but never one as special as Jason. You know what?" The actress pauses and issues a thin trickle of laughter. "At our wedding next June, as soon as they announce us as Mr. and Mrs. Jason Sehorn, I'm going to turn around and face all the people in church and scream 'Score!' as loud as I can."