With all of Paris as a backdrop, Jose Batto hailed the attention of 50 other visitors on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower: "Ladies and gentlemen, you will be my witnesses tonight!" He took the hands of his longtime girlfriend, Helen Raimundo, dropped to one knee and asked, "Helen, will you marry me?" That was September 1997, nine years after Jose and Helen met when he hired her to sell his house in San Jose's Almaden Valley. He was divorcing his first wife and needed a top-producing real estate agent to help him get the best price on his house.