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Homer stopped to gaze reassuringly at Lili. “Now, excuse me while I take this conversation somewhere private. I wouldn’t want to offend your ears.” He stomped across the grass and over the slight rise, then disappeared from sight.
Since she was one of the prime movers in the campaign to save the center, Lili felt guiltier than ever. She’d asked her friends for help, but she’d never expected them to hire an airplane to advertise her crusade. Knowing the way Rita’s mind worked, maybe Lili should have taken the time to make them promise to keep her in the loop before they went this far.
The way Tom looked, she knew he didn’t believe she’d had nothing to do with hiring the airplane. But she had to try again.
“I am so sorry, Tom. No matter how I feel, I never intended for something like this to happen. Or,” she added as the annoyed look Homer had shot Tom flashed through her mind, “to cause a problem between you and your father.”
“Yeah, sure,” Tom replied, trying to focus on his anger instead of the way Lili’s sundress hugged her lush curves.
He might be frustrated with the woman, but he was also fully aware of her charms. There was something special about Lili he couldn’t ignore.
“If you weren’t the one who cooked up that stunt,” he said, forcing himself back to the issue at hand, “how about telling me whose bird-brained idea it was?”
Homer Eldridge stormed back into view before Lili could answer. “That damn fool won’t give me the time of day! Says he saw the plane fly over his penthouse on the other side of the park! He sounded mad as hell!”
“Will he close the center over this?” Dismayed, Lili couldn’t hide her anguish. Now that the Riverview’s owner was directly involved, things had gone too far. From what Tom’s father was saying, the chances of reversing the man’s mind didn’t appear any more likely than finding some way to placate Tom himself.
“The damn fool threatened to close it, but don’t worry, Lili,” Eldridge said soothingly. “I’ll get to Jules sooner or later and make him see the light or my name isn’t Homer Eldridge! As a matter of fact,” he added with a glare at the high-rise building that towered above the trees, “I’m going over and make him talk to me right now or I’ll break down his door trying. As for you, Son,” Eldridge said before he stomped away, “don’t forget you’re going to bring Lili and her children to dinner on Friday. I’m expecting you.”
Troubled at the reason for the invitation, Tom waited until his father was out of sight to tackle Lili. “We have to talk.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. The moment she’d feared had obviously arrived. She’d wanted Tom to notice her the way a man notices a woman, not the way he was looking at her now. “Talk about what?”
“Us,” Tom answered succinctly. “And now, before the situation goes too far.”
“There is an us?” Confused by the intimacy the word implied, she locked her gaze with Tom’s. How could there be an “us” when it was clear he was angry with her?
“Yeah, us,” Tom said. “But before we get started, I have a question. You don’t really want to go to my father’s for dinner Friday, do you?”
“I am a little surprised at his invitation,” Lili confessed warily. She didn’t want to be responsible for creating any more friction between Tom and his father. The threat of the day care closing had fired up both Eldridges enough.
Still, no matter what other reasons Homer had for inviting her and the children, Lili had too much at stake surrounding the center to ignore his offer of help.
If the center closed, she might have to consider returning to her family in France. But in her heart she knew she could never do that. She’d promised her late husband to raise their children as Americans when he was critically injured in an automobile accident.
“I will not accept your father’s invitation if it will cause trouble between the two of you,” she finally answered. “But first we need to talk about my trying to keep the day care open. I must be honest with you. I appreciate your concern, but I cannot stop my campaign.”
“Maybe so, but we still have to talk.”
“About the center?”
Tom nodded. “Yeah, but that can wait for later. Right now, I think we have a bigger problem to take care of.”
Puzzled, Lili clasped her hands to keep them from trembling. What was more important than saving the day care?
Sensing Tom’s obvious reluctance to go on, she finally spoke up. “If this is not about the center, then it has to be about me. If you wish to fire me now, you may go ahead. But I hope you will reconsider.”
Tom’s expression grew grim. “Like I said, that’s not what I want to talk about. What I have to say concerns a personal matter.”
“Say what you feel you must,” she said bravely, knowing that whether the problem was personal or professional, it would still affect her job.
Tom took a deep breath and looked around to make sure his father was safely out of sight. “Well, if you’re sure…I suppose I might as well be frank with you. The problem between my dad and me concerns wedding bells. And now that he’s seen you, I’m afraid you’re part of it.”
“I do not understand this wedding bells,” Lili said with a puzzled frown, her head cocked to one side. “I think it refers to marriage, but what does it have to do with me? I am not about to get married.”
Tom raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. He was too old to be asking a woman for a date, even if he didn’t intend it to be a real one. Hell, as his father kept reminding him, most men his age were already married with children. “You’re right. The problem is more about me than it is about you.”
Relieved, but still puzzled, Lili nodded cautiously.
“You might not believe this,” Tom began, “but the invitation is actually about my father wanting me to marry and start a family. Grandchildren are all he talks about whenever we’re together. Now that he’s seen us and your son together, I’m afraid he’s gotten the wrong idea. I have a gut feeling he sees a chance for the family he wants me to have.”
Relieved at the mention of grandchildren, Lili nodded in understanding. “Of course. Every parent wishes this for their children—a happy family. I cannot imagine life without my little ones. My younger brother, who lives in France, married young and is the father of five children. If my own Paul had survived,” she added with a shy smile, “perhaps I would have matched Christopher’s record by now.”
She couldn’t bring herself to ask Tom how old he was or why he hadn’t married. In spite of what Rita had said about him being interested only in the magazine, Lili remembered the light in his eyes when he’d looked at her. And besides, Tom was a very sexy man. It was a wonder some woman hadn’t managed to lead him to the altar by now.
“I am sorry, but I still do not see where I enter into this problem of wedding bells,” she said. “You are my employer, but we know very little about each other. We are still almost strangers.”
“Right,” Tom agreed with a cautious glance at the playing field, where the children had gone back to their soccer game. “It’s just that I noticed my father’s reaction after he met you and saw Paul.” He took a deep breath. “I know this may sound strange to you, but I’m afraid Dad sees you as a likely marriage prospect for me.”
Lili blinked. Being the target of the senior Eldridge’s matchmaking plans for Tom was surprising, and yet it touched her, too. Homer Eldridge must be a very caring father to be so concerned about his son’s happiness.
The realization that Tom was actually afraid she was being considered as a suitable marriage partner for him brought a pang of regret to her heart.
If only she hadn’t been so foolish as to have the same impossible dream, she would have been able to laugh off the senior Eldridge’s interest in her as merely an amusing idea. What wasn’t amusing was Tom’s reaction to his father’s dinner invitation. She might wish to be in Tom’s arms, making love with him, but it was crystal clear that he did not share such a dream.
She tried to smile away the growing tension she felt between them. “I am sure your father is only trying to be kind. If you wish, I will call and give him my regrets.”
Tom shook his head. “If you knew my father as well as I do, you’d know it’s not that easy. I know I have a reputation around the magazine for being stubborn,” he added with a wry smile, “but my father has me beat. Dad’s a pro at getting his way.”
“But he’s never met me before today,” Lili protested. “I am not the easygoing woman I appear to be. If I were, I would never have managed to take care of myself and the children these past four years.”
Tom studied Lili. He, too, had underestimated her. Strong when he’d thought her mild mannered, wise when he’d thought her merely opinionated, Lili was not only beautiful and intelligent but self-reliant and capable. And, judging from the fire in her exquisite eyes, sensually exciting.
He couldn’t understand his muddled thinking. A month ago, he’d hardly noticed her. Well, maybe a little on his occasional visits to the art department. But he sure noticed her now.
A week ago, he’d actually warned her to stop causing trouble. Now, in spite of the ache in his groin that should have turned him off even thinking sexually about Lili, he was still physically attracted to her. Go figure.
He was sure of one thing. He had to put this attraction to her out of his mind. She was his employee. He had to remember he had a magazine to publish, a magazine his father had, with his easygoing management style, left hanging over a cliff marked Bankruptcy. Even though publishing “Sullivan’s Rules” had turned the magazine around, this was no time to be thinking of a real relationship.
Now that he had Sullivan’s Rules to guide him, if and when he became ready for a lasting relationship, Tom would know better than to fall for a five-foot-three, fiercely independent female.
The problem was he couldn’t ignore Lili’s sparkling eyes, her silky golden hair or those lips surely meant for kissing.
“I’m afraid it’s not going to be easy to turn down Dad’s invitation,” Tom finally said in answer to her questioning gaze. “Especially since it appears he shares your concern for the center. Now that Dad’s involved himself in the problem, he’ll think it strange if you don’t accept his invitation to dinner.”
“Is that all you wished to tell me?” Lili asked, on edge and anxious to leave before Tom remembered why he’d been angry with her. “I must go. The children are hungry. I have to give them their lunch.”
“Wait a minute, please,” he said, anxious to discuss the sensitive issue while he still had the nerve. He touched Lili’s elbow. A big mistake. Touching her warm skin only made him more aware of her than ever.
“Has it occurred to you that maybe my father’s scheme to involve me with you and your kids could turn out to benefit both of us?”
Wide-eyed, Lili stared at him. “Your father’s interest in me as your future wife is a good thing?”
“Yes.” Tom flushed at the skepticism in her voice, but hurried on. “I know it sounds crazy, but try to see things my way. If I bring you to dinner Friday and give the impression we’re an item, he’ll lay off needling me to get married. He’s bound to let nature take its course. And he’ll do everything he can to support your case to keep the center open.”
Aware that Tom’s interest in her wasn’t the kind she’d wished for, Lili still found herself considering his strange proposal.
How could she turn her back on a man who had every right to fire her for causing him problems, but had not?
How could she turn her back on the man her heart and soul had yearned for these past two years, even though she now knew her feelings were not reciprocated?
“I will have to think about this,” she finally replied, her mind whirling at Tom’s proposal. “But not about this talk of engagements and wedding bells,” she added firmly. “If I decide to go to dinner with you, it will only be as your date for the evening, nothing more.”
Tom was disappointed. Being seen with Lili for only one night wasn’t going to cut it. His father would need more than that to stop pressuring Tom. “You’re sure about that?”
“Yes. I must make certain your father realizes I have too many responsibilities to even consider such a commitment. I will bring the twins to prove the point. Agreed?”
What she didn’t add was that even if he did reciprocate her feelings, she would never consider marrying a man who seemed so uncomfortable with children.
“You’d bring the twins?”
Lili nodded. “Your father did invite them.”
Tom swallowed a groan. Children creating bedlam in a park were harmless—if you didn’t count his encounter with the soccer ball, that is. The thought of little Paul investigating Homer’s precious collection of Mayan artifacts was actually frightening. As for the athletic Paulette, heaven only knew what havoc she might create in his father’s penthouse before the evening was through.
“Are you really sure you’d want to bring the twins?” he asked, glancing at the lively soccer game still going on. “Kids don’t seem to sit still for very long.”
Once again Lili realized how very limited Tom’s experience with children was. No wonder he couldn’t relate to her fight to try to keep the center open.
“That’s true,” she agreed with a smile. “I’m sure your father will change his mind about wanting readymade grandchildren when he sees how active my twins are.”
Even active children wouldn’t change his father’s mind, Tom thought, but he said nothing. Homer had been too busy to share Tom’s interest in baseball when Tom was growing up, but it looked as if his father was determined to have grandchildren while he was still spry enough to enjoy them. Even lively stepgrandchildren would make him deliriously happy.
Tom had no choice. He had to tell Lili he was willing to go along with her plan to bring her children to dinner Friday night, and let the future take care of itself. And while the twins made his father happy, he would have a chance to get to know Lili outside working hours.
That included finding out how to keep her out of trouble while trying to think of a way to help in her crusade.
No sooner had Lili started to answer than Paul gave up his pursuit of the gopher and ran back to his mother. “Mama, I’m hungry.”
“Yes, of course.” She ruffled her son’s hair with a fond smile. “Find your sister and tell her we are about to have lunch. I will meet you by our blanket in a few minutes.” She held out her hand to Tom. “I am truly sorry for your accident,” she said somberly. “I hope you will feel better before Friday.”
“Actually, I feel great now that I’ve laid out the problem with my father.” Tom took Lili’s extended hand—another big mistake. Her warm, satiny skin sent his thoughts down roads he hadn’t intended to travel anytime soon, and especially not with a woman who seemed determined to go her own way. “I’ll see you back at the office in the morning. Then,” he added in a much more somber tone, “we’ll talk about finding who hired the airplane.”
Lili hid her uneasiness with a smile. She was sure Tom would track down the person who’d hired the airplane, and read her the riot act, but not if Lili found her first.
“About dinner,” Tom continued. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Pretending to be Tom’s date might fulfill a fantasy of hers, Lili thought, but how could she hide her true feelings for him in the process?
“If the idea of pretending to be my date bothers you, then forget it, Lili,” Tom said when she remained silent. “I just thought I could make my father happy, and we’d both get what we wanted out of this.”
“What we both wanted?” For a moment Lili forgot about the day care and feared Tom must know how she felt about him. She began to regret her impulsive response to the dinner invitation.
“Sure,” Tom said. “I’d have a pretend fiancée, and you’d have my protection if Riverview’s management found out you were the brains behind the protest.” He studied her closely. “That is, if you stayed out of trouble.”
Lili swallowed the lump in her throat at the veiled threat. As far as she could tell, she needed protection from Tom rather than from the building’s management. Well, she thought with a determined smile, two could play this game.
She met his questioning gaze with a direct look of her own and wondered how she could set matters straight with him and still go on with her crusade. Maybe he thought she was naive about male-female relationships. What he didn’t realize was that French-women knew all there was to know about the mating game. They’d invented it.
“I will think more about this bargain you speak of,” she told Tom, trying to ignore the hollow feeling in her middle. “I will give you my answer tomorrow at work.”
“Is that a yes?”
“No.” Lili returned her son’s wave. “It is a maybe.”
Chapter Four
The Riverview’s cafeteria was humming at noon on Monday. Not with the usual office gossip, but with a spirited debate on who could have initiated yesterday’s sensational plane flyover at Lincoln Park. Some people thought it was intended to be a joke, others a conspiracy. But apparently everyone agreed the stunt had been the highlight of the employees’ annual picnic.
Lili was pleased to hear that the debate wasn’t limited to Today’s World staff. There was some conjecture about possible consequences if the culprit was found, but the general feeling seemed to be that more people would be joining in the effort to keep the center open. There was even talk that if the management didn’t see the light, some kind of strike should be organized!
She made her way to a table in the far corner where she, April and Rita usually met for lunch. Lili was pretty sure Rita was the person who had hired the plane, and she was planning to confront her in their secluded niche.
As she took her seat, Lili studied the initials on a heart someone had carved into the wooden tabletop—the same table where she and her friends had at one time plotted April’s successful conquest of Lucas Sullivan. Ditto for Rita’s unexpected marriage to former Texas Ranger Colby Callahan, which had been followed by a honeymoon in Bermuda.
If only the corner didn’t carry so many romantic memories, Lili thought wistfully. For her, it was a constant reminder of her unrealistic attraction to Tom Eldridge.
Asking her friends’ advice about Tom’s proposal would have to wait. Today, she had a more important mission.
The excited buzz of conversation around her was growing, and Lili wondered if the situation was getting out of hand. The last thing she wanted was for the building’s management to close the door to any type of negotiation.
“Hi, Lili!” Rita walked up with her lunch tray. “Your message sounded important. What’s up?”
“Several things,” Lili said, trying to ignore the raised voices around her. To add to her unease, someone at a nearby table was taking bets as to what would happen when the culprit was found. Another voice proposed taking up a collection in support of that person. If she hadn’t already known she had to do something to calm the situation, Lili knew it now.
She also had to do something about Rita.
“First of all,” Lili stated in an undertone, “I know I asked you and April to help me try to keep the center open. It’s just that one or both of you went too far.”
Rita, by now having caught the drift of the conversations around them, nodded cautiously as she picked up her sandwich. “Yeah, I heard something about the plane. So?”
“Well,” Lili continued, glancing around to make sure they weren’t being overheard, “I think the person who hired the plane had to be you.”
Rita paused in midbite. “Say again?”
Lili wasn’t going to take that as a denial, no matter how innocent her friend tried to look. “If you’d been at the picnic yesterday, you’d know what I’m talking about.”
“Sounds cool. Sorry I missed it. Actually, I was home enjoying being a new bride. Colby and I are still honeymooning.” Rita grinned and went back to her lunch.
