LITMIR.BIZ

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you talking about?” she whispered.

      “Rule number five, or for that matter, all of them,” Rita replied, carefully eyeing Arthur’s progress down the hall. “They all seem to advise a woman to try to make a man feel masculine.”

      Lili’s eyes widened. “How?”

      “By showing him how much you like and appreciate him,” April said.

      Rita leaned closer to Lili. “Of course, it’s only part of rule five you need to think about. I’m sure you realize from your own experience that if you sublimate your own desires and allow things to happen naturally, you’re never going to get anywhere with a man like Tom.”

      As Lili nodded solemnly, the subject of their conversation approached them. The three women froze.

      “Good morning, ladies,” Tom said amiably as he eyed Lili. “I hope this is a business meeting.”

      With that not-so-subtle warning, and without waiting for an answer, he raised an eyebrow and walked away.

      TOM FELT THREE PAIRS of disapproving eyes boring into his back as he walked down the hall. If not for Lili’s crusade, he wouldn’t have thought about the survival of the day care center. He actually felt sorry about the situation, but it was out of his hands.

      Besides, beyond polite conversation, or, he admitted reluctantly, sometimes not so polite conversation, fraternizing with his staff outside office hours had been a no-no ever since he’d taken over as publisher. His father may have considered all his employees as one big happy family, but not him. It only led to trouble. Lili was a case in point.

      Besides, managing the magazine took most of his waking hours. The last thing he needed was to have Riverview’s management raise the figures on his lease agreement or, perish the thought, cancel the lease when it came up for renewal next month.

      If only the magazine’s annual employee picnic wasn’t coming up next Sunday, he would have felt easier about the future. If he’d read Lili’s determined body language correctly, he was going to have to listen to a hell of a lot of arguments from her about keeping the day care open, and the picnic would provide her with the perfect opportunity to corner him.

      TOM PASTED A SMILE on his face as he politely greeted employees arriving for Today’s World’s annual picnic. In no time, the magazine’s staff, their families and friends were scattered over the lush green meadow in Lincoln Park, enjoying games and each other’s company. Overhead, the sky was cloudless, and the temperature had climbed into the seventies.

      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

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