An Engagement Of Convenience

Just his luck, Tom thought as he shook another hand and acknowledged another greeting. He might have wished for a late spring rain to break up the picnic early, but the sun was shining brightly, the flowers were blooming and the trees were sprouting buds.

Since Lili and her friends were undoubtedly out there formenting trouble, he intended to keep a close eye on the day’s activities. At the moment, things were going so well, he found himself waiting uneasily for the first sign of a problem.

Sure enough, it came with a bang, but not in the way he’d expected.

“Look out!”

At the frantic shout, Tom ducked instinctively. Considering there were at least three different ball games going on in front of him, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to watch out for. A baseball? A soccer ball? A volley ball?

He found out the hard way when he was hit squarely in the groin by a black-and-white soccer ball apparently hurled into space by an energetic player.

With a muffled curse, he caught the ball before it had a chance to roll away. To his mortification, the private part of him he preferred to keep private hurt like hell.

Tom glanced down at the wet ball he held and noticed the large glob of brown mud smeared across the fly of his shorts. If he’d hoped to keep the point of contact a secret, he was out of luck.

A little girl, cheeks flushed with sun and excitement, her blond ponytail flying out behind her, skidded to a stop in front of him.

“Sorry mister. The ball was going too fast. I couldn’t kick it the other way!”

Tom took a series of deep breaths until the red haze in front of his eyes cleared. The blow might have been an accident, but the region south of his belt hurt like hell. The rest of him, including his head, was pounding in sympathy. Still, he tried to keep his cool.

He surveyed the apologetic half-pint in front of him. There was no use being angry. He could recognize innocence when he saw it.

Besides, with so many games going on, he should have been more alert. If he’d been hit in the head with the same force, he would have been knocked out like a light.

Fortunately, the pain in his groin was dulling to a steady throb. He moved gingerly to test the results of his injury and sighed with relief. He might not be home free, but everything seemed to be in working order.

Before he had a chance to tell the kid not to worry, that he was sure he’d live, a young woman came charging across the field toward him.

Lili Soulé.

How much worse could the day get? Tom wondered bleakly.

Chapter Two

“I am so sorry, Mr. Eldridge—er, Tom,” Lili said distractedly, remembering Rita’s instructions to call him by his first name. “I am sure my daughter didn’t mean for the ball to hit you. Paulette, apologize to Mr. Eldridge this minute!”

Tom took another deep breath to control what was left of the pain. “No problem, she’s already apologized.”

For a moment, the thought crossed his mind that Lili might have deliberately set him up to teach him a lesson in humility. He eyed her cautiously. “I’m sure it was an accident. I suppose I could say it was my fault—I should have kept well away from the playing field.”

“Oh no,” Lili said worriedly. “Paulette has to learn to be more careful when she’s playing ball. Unfortunately, this has happened before,” she added with a stern look at her daughter.

“I’ll live.” Tom cautiously shifted from one foot to another, trying to find the most comfortable position. To his chagrin, the muddy spot on his shorts shifted with him.

How in the hell would he be able to look her in the eyes at the office tomorrow?

“If I continue to hang around here, I have a feeling this isn’t going to be the only time I’ll get in the way of a bouncing ball,” Tom added, hoping to displace Lili’s horrified gaze. The pain was bad enough that he could have cursed a blue streak, but he realized a child was present. “Nice day for a picnic, isn’t it?” he said inanely. Lili blinked and the kid grinned, but her humor was short-lived as her mother turned to lecture her about paying attention to what she was doing.

Tom listened to Lili read her daughter the riot act, wondering as he did how he could ever have thought of this lovely woman as serene.

He watched the way the afternoon breeze was sending wisps of her silky blond hair across her sapphire eyes. And wondered at her tender smile, even as she continued to warn her daughter about the safety aspects of playing soccer.

The more he studied Lili, the more fascinating he found her to be. How could he ever have thought her fragile and uninteresting?

He glanced at her left hand—no wedding ring. Just as he’d thought. It would be dangerous for a man like him to become involved with a single mother with small children.

Uneasy at the direction of his thoughts, he began to wonder if fate in the shape of a bouncing soccer ball had deliberately set him up.

“Sorry, mister,” the kid finally said. “I gotta go now. My friends want the ball!” She grabbed the soccer ball out of his hands and, before her mother could stop her, took off at a run.

Lili blew her daughter a kiss, then turned back to Tom. “I’m afraid there is no way for me to contain my daughter’s enthusiasm for sports. She has been a tomboy from the time she learned to walk.”

“Like I said before, I’m okay,” Tom answered her, even though shafts of pain coursed through him every time he took a deep breath. If he hadn’t already known from the days he’d played football that getting hit in the groin was as bad as it could get, he sure knew it now.

Lili frowned as she glanced at the beads of moisture that had gathered on Tom’s forehead. “I knew you were hurt. I have an idea. Wait here and don’t move,” she ordered when he tried to interrupt. “I’ll be back in a minute with something to help you.”

Her eye-catching yellow sundress flashed brightly as she made for an ice cream truck parked on the asphalt a few yards away.

Ice cream? Tom frowned. What made her think an ice cream treat would do anything for the pain running through him?

As if nearly being gelded in the prime of life wasn’t enough, he still had the problem of what to do about this woman and her crusade.

Tom turned as he heard a familiar voice shout at him from across the playing field, and saw his father heading in his direction. Apparently fate was further intent on complicating his life. Judging by his dad’s determined body language as he made his way through the crowd, Tom was afraid he was going to have to listen to another of his lectures.

Seeing Tom in the company of a woman like Lili and her small daughter was bound to have drawn his dad’s attention. Tom prepared himself for a speech on the joys of marriage and fatherhood. Not that it would be the first time his father had sounded off about Tom’s single state. Homer Eldridge made no secret that he wanted grandchildren before it was too late for him to enjoy them. Even if they came readymade.

Tom’s younger sister, Megan, bless her cowardly heart, was still single, too, but as a travel writer, she made a point of touching home base as seldom as possible. At the moment, she was busy flying around the world researching articles for a local newspaper. A side benefit was that her work kept her as far away from their father’s matchmaking activities as possible. The last time Tom had heard from Megan, she’d been somewhere in Bali, sunning herself and admiring the local males from a safe distance. To further rile him, she’d congratulated herself on having no dependents the last time she’d called.

He should have insisted Megan return home and at least help run the letters-to-the-editor pages of the magazine. So much mail had come in since they’d published Lucas Sullivan’s controversial article. And maybe if Megan were around, their father’s attention would turn from Tom to his sister.

Still, Tom counted himself lucky. If Megan, a well-intentioned do-gooder, had been living in Chicago, even without children of her own, she would have been all over him, insisting he help Lili keep the day care open. It was bad enough the management was up in arms because of Lili’s escapades; the last thing Tom needed was having Megan on his back.

Maybe he hadn’t made himself clear the last time he’d told his father he wasn’t cut out for the marriage game, and even less for fatherhood. If he hadn’t already been convinced that he was a contented bachelor, Tom had become a true believer when he’d commissioned Lucas, his fraternity brother, to write “Sullivan’s Rules.” The article had convinced Tom he was right: a strong woman was to be avoided at all costs.

He thought of Sullivan’s Rule number five, which called for a woman to “show her man how much she likes and appreciates him.” It was right on the mark.

He gazed after Lili. Number six, on second thought, wasn’t bad, either. He would have been happy with a woman who was “supportive, fun-loving, easygoing, and generous in her praise of a man’s achievements.” Just not today.

He wasn’t the only one uninterested in fatherhood, he told himself righteously. Not one of Sullivan’s Rules mentioned children.

Tom cautiously eyed the way Lili and the ice cream vendor were deep in conversation. Injured or not, his body still stirred at the sight of Lili’s shapely bare legs. The hem of her short dress rose even higher as she gestured to the vendor, leaning over the counter in the side of his truck.

It would have taken a man of iron not to admire Lili’s exquisite knees and the glimpse of golden thighs.

Thank God, Tom thought as he felt his body stir. His vital parts were still working.

On the other hand, something had to be wrong for him to be reacting this way. Now that he knew Lili was leading the crusade to keep the center open, how could he possibly be lusting after her? And then there was his policy of no fraternizing with members of his staff.