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.”
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