Kitabı oku: «An Engagement Of Convenience», sayfa 3
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.
Lili wasn’t fooled. Rita might have been at home yesterday, but it didn’t require a genius to know that all it would have taken to finance the stunt was a telephone call and a credit card number. Furthermore, knowing Rita’s carefree approach to life—“why not?” instead of “why?”—she was the perfect candidate to have come up with the attention-getting idea.
The unlikely marriage between Rita, a breezy research librarian, and Colby, a serious former Texas Ranger, proved that opposites attract, Lili thought wistfully. It should have been a source of comfort to herself. As it was, Tom had hardly noticed her until the other day at the picnic. If Paulette hadn’t wildly kicked that soccer ball, with unfortunate results, he might not have noticed her at all.
Tom was likely upstairs in his office right now, trying to find out who had paid for yesterday’s protest. He was probably planning on giving two weeks’ notice and a severance check as soon as he found the person.
April was waltzing across the crowded lunchroom. “Sorry I’m late, Lili,” she said breathlessly as she approached their table and sat down. “I only have a few minutes—I can’t stay for lunch. But you sounded so serious when you called that I had to come down and find out what’s up. Something happen?”
“Plenty,” Lili answered. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the airplane flyover yesterday?”
April nodded.
“Tom is not only angry over what happened yesterday at the picnic, I think he’s ready to fire whoever planned it.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lili saw Rita blanch at the word fire and put down her sandwich. If Lili hadn’t been sure Rita was behind the stunt, she was now. Rita might be a wild card, but at least she was an honest one.
April shook her head. “Sorry, Lili. I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, but it wasn’t me. How about telling me what happened yesterday in one simple sentence before I have to get back upstairs? Did someone get hurt at the picnic?”
“Yes and no,” Lili answered. She decided to keep Tom’s injury to herself, in case Rita came up with one of her X-rated remarks. She rubbed her aching forehead and told April about the airplane towing a banner protesting the closure of the day care center.
“I know I asked you two for help,” she added with a pointed look at Rita, “but the results were amazing.”
“Cool!” April grinned wickedly. “Knowing how Tom reacts when he thinks he’s lost control, I wish I’d been there to see him in action. But it wasn’t me, Lili, I swear. Lucas and I were at the university lab going over the results of his new questionnaires on the mating game. By the way,” she chirped happily, “now that I’ve shown Lucas that all women aren’t alike, you’ll be glad to know he’s going to revise those six rules of his.”
Even as Lili nodded, her gaze swung back to Rita.
After a pregnant moment, her friend shoved her sandwich away and nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I guess it’s time for the truth. I was only trying to help.”
April shook her head. “Some help you were. From what I’ve heard, it sounds as if you’ve managed to turn the Riverview into a war zone. If you don’t get us all fired, it’s going to be a miracle.”
Rita looked alarmed. “Heck, I was only trying to help. I thought a banner flying over the park would reach a lot more people than any fliers would. I didn’t have a clue anyone would get their shorts tied in a knot over it.”
“Unfortunately, someone has,” Lili informed her. “How could you afford to pay for the airplane, anyway? And what did Colby say when he heard what you planned?”
Rita grinned smuggly. “He thought it was a great idea. As for how much it cost, the pilot is a friend of Colby’s. All I had to pay for was the banner—fifty bucks. I figured it was a lot cheaper than having fliers made up, and a lot more fun.” Rita paused. “Are you going to tell Tom? Do you really think he’ll fire me if he finds out I was the one who arranged for the plane?”
Lili reached into her purse and took out a bottle of pain relievers to soften the throbbing headache she’d had all day. Popping two tablets into her mouth, she reached for Rita’s lemonade and took a sip. “No, I’m not going to tell him it was you. And yes, he’ll probably fire you if he finds out for sure you did it. But only because the building’s owner happened to see the banner.”
“No way,” April interjected. “I’ve known Tom for years. He’s too loyal to his employees to want to fire anyone. I’m sure he’ll think of some way to get around it.”
Rita muttered into her sandwich.
“Well, as my grandmother used to say, ‘what is done is done,’” Lili said at last. “Now we must try to find a way to take care of the other problems before it is too late.”
Rita blinked. “Other problems? What other problems? Besides my getting fired for trying to do something constructive, what other problems can there be?”
“Tom told me the building’s owner will have to eventually raise the tenants’ rents when the leases come due if he has to keep the center open. From what Tom said, some tenants might have to relocate in that case.”
“Then it’s up to us to come up with an idea to help Tom change the owner’s mind.” April jumped to her feet. “I have to get back to work, but give me a day or two. I’ll talk it over with Lucas. Maybe he can come up with something.”
“I’m really sorry,” Rita said contritely after April left. “I had no idea the management would become so angry.”
“Neither did I.” Lili sighed. “I’m not sure Tom will be happy if we try to help him, but April is right. We have to find another way to save the center.”
Rita’s eyes lit up. “I know! We can sell cookies! You know, like the Girl Scout cookie drive!”
“That would take too many cookies!” Lili put her fingers to her lips and motioned toward a neighboring table, where a woman had just bet fifty dollars that the person behind the airplane flyover would be found and fired before the week was out.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Rita answered. “We sold cookies to raise funds in high school, and my folks used to say they practically paid for the lights in the football stadium with all the boxes they helped me sell. If that’s not good enough,” she added when Lili didn’t look amused, “I’ll talk it over with Colby. He knows a lot of well-placed people here in Chicago. Maybe he has an idea where we can find a fairy godfather.”
“Not before you tell me what you’re planning before you do it,” Lili said, almost afraid to encourage Rita. Heaven only knew what she might come up with. Lili rose to leave.
“Hey, wait a minute. You haven’t had any lunch!”
“No, I wasn’t hungry.” Lili rubbed her aching forehead. “I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich upstairs in the studio waiting for me.” She wasn’t going to tell her friend she was on a strict budget so she could keep the twins in the center.
She blew Rita an air kiss and hurried to the elevators. She’d planned on telling her friends about pretending to be Tom’s date at dinner on Friday, but had changed her mind. Recalling the way Rita’s eyes lit up whenever Lili mentioned Tom, she was afraid that any date with him, real or not, might wind up another fiasco.
Besides, she thought as she made her way to Tom’s office, a woman like herself didn’t need any advice about men. Knowing how to handle a man was every Frenchwoman’s birthright.
Lili knocked on his open office door. “Is this a good time to talk to you?”
When Tom frowned, she turned to leave. “Perhaps later?”
“No, wait.” Tom eyed Lili. Gone was the minuscule yellow sundress that had caught his interest at yesterday’s picnic. Today, she was dressed in beige linen slacks and a soft sapphire blouse that matched her almond shaped eyes. A narrow brown leather belt encircled her tiny waist. Around her neck, she wore a simple gold chain, and at her ears, gold studs. If he’d had any doubt that he’d been head over heels in lust with Lili yesterday, even in the midst of a highly sensitive personal problem, those doubts were gone today.
Until he’d caught her drawing up those damn fliers, he’d thought of Lili as a “Sullivan woman,” demure and retiring. He knew better now. “What is it?”
“I came to see if you feel a little better after what happened yesterday,” she replied with a charming blush that sent Tom’s libido stirring. Not for the first time, he wondered how he could be so attracted to a woman who had created so much turmoil in his life.
Tom waved Lili into the office. “If you mean the soccer ball, yeah. If you’re talking about the airplane stunt with the banner, the answer is no. In fact, I’ve just been on the phone with the company that owns the plane. No matter what I say, they claim customer privacy.”
Lili murmured in sympathy. “Perhaps the incident is better forgotten?”
“I wish, but after yesterday, I think we both know better than that.” Tom scowled at the phone and pushed it away as if it was to blame for the problem. “Dad cornered Kagan last night and called to tell me they’ve finally met and are talking. From what I gather, the stunt isn’t going to be forgotten, at least for now. Kagan not only wants an apology, he wants the hide of whoever came up with the idea.”
“You are sure?”
“Yeah,” Tom answered with another jaundiced glance at the telephone. “I’m sure.”
Lili blinked at the harsh terms of surrender. No way was she going to turn in Rita. Even an apology from the person who had hired the airplane wouldn’t guarantee the center would be kept open. And working to keep it open for all the parents like herself who worked in the Riverview Building was something Lili felt she must continue to do. Life might not always be fair, as she’d often told the twins, but she’d never been one to give up without trying to somehow make it better.
Lili tried to concentrate on her crusade, but found herself thinking how sexy Tom looked as he ran his hand over his rugged chin. He proved the old saying that left-handed men were sexier than right-handed men, she thought wistfully.
As for the possibility that he could have an interest in her…Judging from the frustrated look on his face, the answer was no.
But she’d think about that later. It was time to try to calm the troubled waters.
Folding her hands in her lap demurely, Lili smiled at him. “I came to tell you that I have made up my mind. I will be pleased to be your date at your father’s dinner Friday night.”
To her surprise, Tom didn’t look as happy as she thought he would. “But first,” she added, before he could turn her down, “I would like to know why your father feels it is important for you to marry now. You are still young.”
Tom frowned. His marital status was no one’s business but his own. But there was no way he wanted anyone to think he was afraid of his father. Certainly not Lili.
He knew from personnel records that his father had a heart murmur, and Tom figured the condition must have played a part in Homer’s early retirement. But Homer kept complaining he didn’t have enough to do to keep him busy, and threatened to return to work. No way would Tom jeopardize his father’s health by letting that happen. Nor did he want his dad to know he knew about his medical condition.
He settled for a half-truth. “Since you asked…First, my father wants to make sure I have a son to pass the magazine on to, just as he did with me. Secondly, he’s determined to become a grandfather.”
Lili nodded politely. “I think your father is a wise man.”
Tom snorted. “That’s your take. Mine is that my dad is a conniving if lovable man. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting here now.”
Lili wanted to know just where Tom would rather be, but was afraid to ask.
Tom waited for Lili, who didn’t seem to miss a beat, to comment. When she smiled, he went on. “Now that my life is an open book, something tells me there’s a catch to your offer. Right?”
Prepared to stand her ground no matter how intimidating Tom became, Lili smiled demurely. “Yes. I have decided to, as you say, make a deal with you.”
Tom laughed. “I knew it! Somewhere in that busy mind of yours, there had to be a catch. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come up with the idea of humoring my father in the first place. Go ahead, spit it out.”
“It is only this. If you help your father persuade this Mr. Kagan to forget yesterday’s airplane flyover and allow us to raise money for the day care center, I will pretend to be your date.”
Tom’s eyebrows rose. “I have a feeling there’s more to this bargain.”
“Yes. I will be your pretend date not only for this dinner, but until you have no further need to keep your father happy.”
Tom managed to smother a snort. Only an unsophisticated woman would have come up with such an offer. Any modern American woman would realize that proximity, pretend or not, had its rewards. Rewards Lili obviously wasn’t anticipating.
If she wasn’t a widow with small children, Tom would have thought she’d never heard of the birds and the bees. Pretend to be his date for the foreseeable future? Did she think he was a man of iron?
If Lili only knew how he felt about her.
“No deal,” he said. “Although I’m not saying I don’t want to help your crusade. I will if I find a way to do so. The problem is that it’s not only up to me. There are dozens of tenants in the building and they’re all in the same boat with their leases. None of us want higher rents. Like I keep telling you, closing the center is simply a matter of good business.”
“It is also good business to allow women with children to work,” Lili retorted. “And a safe and healthy environment is good for children.”
“Sure,” Tom agreed, “but there are other considerations in tough economic times. The day care center has grown so much it can no longer be run as a nonprofit enterprise. It’s become a business. And from what I’ve heard, an unsuccessful one.”
Lili nodded reluctantly. There was no way she was going to tell Tom she was planning to raise the needed funds without antagonizing the building’s owner any further.
“Let’s face it, Lili. Providing a day care at Riverview has lost its appeal for Kagan.”
“Does that mean your answer to my proposition is no? You do not want me to be your date?”
Tom hesitated. He wasn’t too sure about the wisdom of asking Lili to pretend to be his love interest, but he couldn’t bring himself to say no. After all, she’d been the one to suggest it be for more than one night. Unless…From the expression on Lili’s face, there had to be more to her proposition than she’d shared with him.
Ücretsiz ön izlemeyi tamamladınız.
