Marriage In Six Easy Lessons

“Generally speaking, I agree,” April said as she took another bite of her hamburger. “I’m sure he has some desirable traits, but—”

“This one is so funny,” Lili broke in. She handed the manuscript page back. “‘A woman must show her man how much she likes and appreciates him. She must shower him with affection and sublimate her own daily frustrations.’”

“That’s supposed to be funny?” Rita said as she took the manuscript page and studied the rule she found offensive. “I don’t think so!”

“You’re right,” Lili agreed with a faint blush. “If I had sublimated my frustrations, I would not have had the twins.”

“This one is even nuttier,” Rita told her. “‘A woman must be supportive, fun loving, easygoing and generous in her praise of a man’s achievements.’” She snorted. “Just so long as the guy knows this rule works both ways. Especially the ‘supportive’ part. You’re not really going to let Eldridge print this garbage, are you, April?”

“Not without first suggesting some changes and additions,” April said, munching on a French fry. “I don’t think he’ll like to hear them, but after my narrow escape at the altar, I’ve come up with a few rules of my own.”

“I’d like to meet this guy to make sure he’s real,” Rita said, reaching for the discarded pickle on April’s plate.

“Oh, he’s real, all right,” April said ruefully. “That’s part of the trouble.”

“Only part of the trouble?” Rita paused in mid bite. “What’s left?”

“Well, you wouldn’t know it from his writing—” April glanced around to make sure she wasn’t going to be overheard “—but Lucas Sullivan is too sexy to be true.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Rita said happily. “Go on—what does he look like?”

“To start with, golden-brown hair, cleft chin, gorgeous brown eyes.”

Lili stopped eating the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich she’d brought from home and stared at April. “There is more?”

April grinned. “Isn’t that enough?”

Rita sighed into her salad. “So in spite of his awful views of relationships, you’d still go for him?”

“No. My head is on straighter than that.” April cleaned up the remains of her lunch, ready to leave. “I don’t intend to fall for a man who thinks the sun sets and rises on the male of the species. Or a man who believes he should be pampered in order to keep him happy.” She paused. “I’ll just have to come up with a few ideas to straighten him out.”

Lili gasped. “But how, April?”

“When Tom comes back from lunch with Sullivan, I’ll say I’m going to suggest a few minor revisions. I’m sure Tom will understand.”

Rita shrugged. “You’re taking a chance. Remember, if Tom contracted the article, he and Sullivan must think alike.”

“Probably,” April said lightly. “But I think if Sullivan spent more time in the real world, he’d—”

“What is this ‘real world’?” Lili interrupted, pulling an apple out of a brown bag and polishing it with a paper napkin before taking a bite.

“The real world where most of us working women live. Not relying just on books or questionnaires,” April explained, mentally making notes. “I have a few lessons in mind that should help take care of that. In fact, I can use your help.” She stood.

“Not me, April,” Lili said. “You’re on your own there. Good luck with your Mr. Sullivan.”

“Thank goodness he’s not mine,” April replied. “All I need to do is to try to enlighten the man and move on.” She smiled grimly. “See you two later.”

UPSTAIRS IN THE BUILDING’S executive dining room, Lucas Sullivan found himself listening with only one ear to Tom Eldridge’s praise for his article. A brief nod of his head seemed to be all Tom needed to keep talking. Even Tom’s explanation of how he would be paid couldn’t keep his attention focused on what Eldridge was saying.

What he was focused on was April Morgan. Even though she apparently found his article amusing, which it certainly wasn’t meant to be, and was probably the last woman on earth he should be attracted to, he remained fascinated by her flashing eyes and the stubborn tilt of her chin.

He made patterns on the pristine tablecloth with his knife as he half listened to the editor’s spiel. The realization he couldn’t get April out of his mind actually came as a surprise. It wasn’t like him, he mused as he gazed at the menu the waiter handed him and ordered a dessert. Sure, he’d dated a colleague or two, but their conversations had usually been about their respective research projects. Sex had entered the picture now and then, but he’d been too preoccupied with work to form any lasting relationships. Not that he lived like a monk, exactly; he preferred to think of himself as merely discriminating.

With that thought in mind, Lucas mentally measured the auburn-haired Ms. Morgan’s attractions on a scale of one to ten. Definitely a ten, he decided as he gazed at his favorite dessert, a chocolate soufflé. Maybe even a ten plus.

“So, what do you think?” Eldridge asked as he dug into a giant slice of apple pie topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Lucas took a deep swallow of ice water to cool his thoughts. This was, as Eldridge had obviously been trying to tell him for the past forty-five minutes, a business lunch. “About what?”

“April. April Morgan,” Eldridge repeated. “How do you feel about working with her?”

Lucas tried to hide his gut reaction to the question; the last thing he wanted to discuss was the way he’d found April not only interesting but infinitely appealing. Or to admit he actually looked forward to getting to know her better on a level other than as an author and his editor.

He frowned. Finding April Morgan attractive was one thing. Having her in a position to criticize and possibly alter his work was another. “Well, since you ask, not much. Don’t you have another editor I could work with?”

Eldridge’s eyebrows rose in a way that made Lucas uneasy. “No, I’m afraid not. We’re shorthanded at the moment, so April will have to do. No criticism of her intended, Sullivan, she’s one of the best. April will, of course, check for any grammar and spelling errors, and—if I know her, and I do—she’ll try to find a way to make the article a little bit more interesting and exciting. Not all the readers of our magazine are died-in-the-wool academics like yourself.”

Lucas’s soufflé suddenly tasted like mud. “Change my article to make it more exciting? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Eldridge took a final swallow of coffee and sat back and smiled. “I don’t know if you intended your work to be controversial, but I believe it is. The rules you espouse for the mating game are bound to create quite a stir in our female readers.”

Warning bells rang in Lucas’s mind. “Stir? What kind of stir?”

Eldridge was beaming. “Let’s just call it a major difference of opinion. The truth is that while I happen to agree with your conclusions about a woman’s role in the mating game, I’m willing to bet there are a hell of a lot of women readers who won’t. Today’s women, especially the type of readers we attract, are sharp, independent and not necessarily interested in marriage. That’s the reason I decided to ask you to write the article in the first place. The issue is bound to sell like hotcakes!”

“You’re joking!” Now that he understood the reason behind his former fraternity brother’s interest in his study, Lucas felt betrayed.

“Nope, I’m dead serious,” Eldridge said. “It’ll do miracles for our circulation. You’ll drive the women crazy.”

Chapter Two

April managed to run up four flights of stairs to compensate for her lunch time calorie intake before she changed her mind. This type of exercise definitely wasn’t for her. She took the elevator the rest of the way.

She should have known Lucas Sullivan would be sitting in her office waiting for her.

Outside of a raised eyebrow and a glance at his watch, he didn’t speak. He didn’t have to.

She tried a casual smile, slid the folder with his manuscript in it onto her desk, then dropped into her chair. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

He shot a telling glance at the pages that had slid out from the protective folder. “Did you enjoy your fries?”

Of all the things she’d expected him to say, a question about her lunch wasn’t it. “How did you know I had fries for lunch?”

“Easy.” He leaned across the desk and pointed to the top page of his manuscript.

April followed his finger to where a liberal blot of ketchup rested on one of his rules. “A happy relationship requires that a woman make her man feel masculine.”

To her private satisfaction, the ketchup stain almost obliterated what she considered to be one of his more offensive rules. A man who didn’t feel secure in his own masculinity wasn’t going to get her sympathy.