An Engagement Of Convenience

“I remember seeing you around the magazine once or twice before I retired, Ms. Soulé,” his father said, smiling as he reached to take Lili’s offered hand. “Glad to meet you. You don’t mind my calling you Lili, do you? Especially seeing that you and Tom are friends?”

Lili blushed. “I am pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Eldridge. You may call me Lili if you wish.”

Tom’s father gestured to Paul. “Your son?”

“Yes,” Lili said proudly. “Paul is a twin. His sister is out there somewhere playing soccer. I’m afraid it was Paulette who kicked the ball that hit Tom.”

Homer glanced over his shoulder at the soccer field, which was rimmed by shouting children and cheering parents. “And the children’s father? Is he here today?”

Lili’s smile faded. “I lost my husband, Paul, four years ago in an accident,” she said softly. “Little Paul here is now the man of the family.”

Tom’s father murmured in sympathy. “And a fine young man he is. How old is he?”

“He is six,” Lili replied. Obviously wondering at the senior Eldridge’s sudden interest in her son, she glanced at Tom with a raised eyebrow. Hoping he was wrong about his father’s interest, Tom managed a shrug.

“Ah, yes,” Homer replied with a fond smile. “Still, every boy needs a father to help him along the road to manhood. Don’t you agree?”

Even as Tom shook his head, Lili nodded.

Judging from his father’s benevolent smile, Tom had a sinking feeling his dad had decided Lili and her twins would not only make a perfect family, but provide him with instant grandchildren.

In a way, Homer was right, Tom mused as a becoming flush pinkened Lili’s cheeks. Tom was a red-blooded man and Lili was definitely all woman. If only she hadn’t displayed such a will of steel and relentless determination. He knew from experience that a strong woman spelled trouble.

He was also old-fashioned enough to believe that his frat brother, Lucas Sullivan, had been right in his article on the mating game. A woman had to let a man set the pace in their relationship, or at least allow him to be a partner. Since he’d discovered the real Lili, Tom wasn’t sure she was ready to do either.

He intended to get around to marriage someday, maybe, but not yet. If his father was so set on being a grandfather, maybe there was still a chance that his sister would develop a nesting instinct, marry and provide the grandchildren.

Impatiently, he listened while his father and Lili exchanged pleasantries. The longer the two spoke, the broader the smile on his father’s face became. Not a good sign.

“Tom,” Homer finally suggested, “why don’t you bring Lili and the children over to my place for dinner next Friday?”

Tom was about to say he had another engagement when the activity on the ball fields stopped and picnicgoers broke into whistles and shouts. Slowly, he swiveled to see what had prompted the outburst. It seemed as if everyone was looking skyward, pointing and cheering. To Tom’s dismay, a small plane flew overhead, trailing a large yellow banner: HELP KEEP RIVERVIEW CHILD CARE CENTER OPEN!

A deep foreboding washed over Tom. He knew, as sure as he knew his own name, that his life was about to become even more complicated.

Chapter Three

This had to be Lili’s doing.

Today’s stunt with the plane had to be just another way to rev up her crusade to save the center. But this time she’d gone too far. It was beginning to look as if her wide-ranging imagination greatly exceeded her charm.

Gritting his teeth to hide his frustration, Tom turned to a wide-eyed Lili and gestured to the banner. “You?”

“Mais non!” To Lili’s chagrin, whenever she became agitated, she reverted to her native language. How could Tom think she’d hired the airplane? He had to know she couldn’t have afforded to do that even if she’d wanted to.

“You’re sure about that?”

Lili nodded. To her dismay, what had begun as a campaign intended solely for the Riverview Building’s tenants must surely be known to most of Chicago by now. The realization that the local papers and television stations were bound to pick up on the flyover made her knees grow weak. Judging from the look on Tom’s face, it would be a miracle if she wasn’t fired.

“Any idea who is behind it?” Tom demanded between clenched teeth. “If I do find out who did it…” He left the sentence unfinished, but his threat was clear.

Lili’s blood ran cold as the airplane flew out of sight. She was innocent, but she had the feeling that the brains behind this caper belonged to one or both of her friends, Rita and April. And it was only a matter of time before Tom found the culprit.

Her lips were sealed.

She sensed Tom’s frustration in the rigid way he held himself. Whatever he was thinking couldn’t be good.

It wasn’t only her own job on the line, she realized as she gazed up, to discover the plane had reappeared. Her campaign might come back to bite her friends, as well.

“What’s all the shouting about?” Tom’s father asked.

Wordlessly, Tom pointed skyward.

Homer Eldridge shaded his eyes and gazed upward to the accompaniment of hoots, whistles and shouts from everyone on the playing field.

“Who’s trying to close our day care center?” Homer demanded. “Better yet, who’s behind that stunt? I’d like to have a few words with them!”

Lili was afraid from the thunderous look on his face that the senior Eldridge intended to give any perpetrators hell. Well, for that matter, so did Tom if he found them. And from the way he was glaring at the airplane, it was going to be soon.

“In answer to your first question, Dad,” Tom began with a scowl at Lili, “I’m damn sure that the reason for the plane is that Jules Kagan has called a meeting to discuss closing the center. If you ask me, it’s already a done deal—” he shot a telling look at Lili “—even if some people don’t want to believe it.

“As for the person behind that misguided stunt up there,” Tom added, “I’m not sure who it is, but I have a good idea.”

Homer Eldridge’s face grew mottled with anger as he stared at the banner flying overhead. “You have it all wrong, Son. I’m not angry at whoever hired the plane. Considering I was one of the tenants that started the day care, I should have been told Jules wants to close the place down. If I’d known, I would have tried to stop that fool exhibition up there before it got started. No matter how well intentioned the perpetrator might be, I’m afraid there’s going to be hell to pay when Kagan finds out!”

“Don’t worry, Dad.” Tom sent another pointed look at Lili. “I’m pretty sure I know who’s behind the stunt. I plan on taking care of it the first thing in the morning.”

“Hell, you’re not listening!” his father retorted. “That’s not what I meant. If it weren’t for Jules’s reaction, I’d be tempted to give whoever’s behind the stunt a medal. As it is, this will only make matters worse.”

Gazing at Tom, Lili saw the warm, velvety brown eyes that she considered so sensuous grow cool. Another bad sign.

“You know as well as I do, Dad, that our lease renewal is coming up soon,” Tom continued. “If we do anything else to antagonize Kagan, it’s only going to cost us.”

His father snorted and loosened the collar of his shirt from around his burly neck. “It’s getting too damn hot out here and I have a strong feeling it’s going to get a lot hotter before this mess is over. Things have already gone too far.”

He glanced over at Paul, who was busy poking a twig down the gopher hole. “I take it your boy attends the day care center, Lili?”

Lili ignored Tom’s warning look. She could use all the help she could get. “Yes, he does,” she said proudly. “Paul and his sister were in Riverview’s day care until they started public school. They are in afternoon care there now.”

Homer’s frown grew deeper for a moment, then he smiled. “The fact you have children there makes the problem more personal. Don’t you worry, my dear, you can leave everything to me. I’ll take care of this.”

“Come on, Dad.” Tom broke in, concerned about the subtext in his father’s satisfied smile. The man was obviously taken by Lili, but the less he became involved with her and her children, the better. “You’re retired now, Dad. You ought to be enjoying yourself instead of working yourself into a heart attack over this. Like I said, just leave the details to me.”

“Some details,” Homer muttered as the plane circled the park one last time, dipped its wings in a salute to the watchers below, and in a sputter of staccato sound disappeared from view. “I said I’ll take care of this and I will. Where’s your cell phone?”

Tom sighed, dug in his pocket and handed over his phone. “It’s Sunday. I don’t think you’ll be able to reach anyone today.”

“We’ll see about that!” his father retorted. “Hell, Jules Kagan had better talk to me! We go back too far for him to ignore me now. If I have to, I’ll remind him that I was one of the first businesses to sign a lease when he became owner of the Riverview. I even brought a couple of other prospective tenants with me to raise the occupancy rate so he could impress the bankers when he applied for a loan.”