Homer Eldridge stormed back into view before Lili could answer. “That damn fool won’t give me the time of day! Says he saw the plane fly over his penthouse on the other side of the park! He sounded mad as hell!”
“Will he close the center over this?” Dismayed, Lili couldn’t hide her anguish. Now that the Riverview’s owner was directly involved, things had gone too far. From what Tom’s father was saying, the chances of reversing the man’s mind didn’t appear any more likely than finding some way to placate Tom himself.
“The damn fool threatened to close it, but don’t worry, Lili,” Eldridge said soothingly. “I’ll get to Jules sooner or later and make him see the light or my name isn’t Homer Eldridge! As a matter of fact,” he added with a glare at the high-rise building that towered above the trees, “I’m going over and make him talk to me right now or I’ll break down his door trying. As for you, Son,” Eldridge said before he stomped away, “don’t forget you’re going to bring Lili and her children to dinner on Friday. I’m expecting you.”
Troubled at the reason for the invitation, Tom waited until his father was out of sight to tackle Lili. “We have to talk.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. The moment she’d feared had obviously arrived. She’d wanted Tom to notice her the way a man notices a woman, not the way he was looking at her now. “Talk about what?”
“Us,” Tom answered succinctly. “And now, before the situation goes too far.”
“There is an us?” Confused by the intimacy the word implied, she locked her gaze with Tom’s. How could there be an “us” when it was clear he was angry with her?
“Yeah, us,” Tom said. “But before we get started, I have a question. You don’t really want to go to my father’s for dinner Friday, do you?”
“I am a little surprised at his invitation,” Lili confessed warily. She didn’t want to be responsible for creating any more friction between Tom and his father. The threat of the day care closing had fired up both Eldridges enough.
Still, no matter what other reasons Homer had for inviting her and the children, Lili had too much at stake surrounding the center to ignore his offer of help.
If the center closed, she might have to consider returning to her family in France. But in her heart she knew she could never do that. She’d promised her late husband to raise their children as Americans when he was critically injured in an automobile accident.
“I will not accept your father’s invitation if it will cause trouble between the two of you,” she finally answered. “But first we need to talk about my trying to keep the day care open. I must be honest with you. I appreciate your concern, but I cannot stop my campaign.”
“Maybe so, but we still have to talk.”
“About the center?”
Tom nodded. “Yeah, but that can wait for later. Right now, I think we have a bigger problem to take care of.”
Puzzled, Lili clasped her hands to keep them from trembling. What was more important than saving the day care?
Sensing Tom’s obvious reluctance to go on, she finally spoke up. “If this is not about the center, then it has to be about me. If you wish to fire me now, you may go ahead. But I hope you will reconsider.”
Tom’s expression grew grim. “Like I said, that’s not what I want to talk about. What I have to say concerns a personal matter.”
“Say what you feel you must,” she said bravely, knowing that whether the problem was personal or professional, it would still affect her job.
Tom took a deep breath and looked around to make sure his father was safely out of sight. “Well, if you’re sure…I suppose I might as well be frank with you. The problem between my dad and me concerns wedding bells. And now that he’s seen you, I’m afraid you’re part of it.”
“I do not understand this wedding bells,” Lili said with a puzzled frown, her head cocked to one side. “I think it refers to marriage, but what does it have to do with me? I am not about to get married.”
Tom raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. He was too old to be asking a woman for a date, even if he didn’t intend it to be a real one. Hell, as his father kept reminding him, most men his age were already married with children. “You’re right. The problem is more about me than it is about you.”
Relieved, but still puzzled, Lili nodded cautiously.
“You might not believe this,” Tom began, “but the invitation is actually about my father wanting me to marry and start a family. Grandchildren are all he talks about whenever we’re together. Now that he’s seen us and your son together, I’m afraid he’s gotten the wrong idea. I have a gut feeling he sees a chance for the family he wants me to have.”
Relieved at the mention of grandchildren, Lili nodded in understanding. “Of course. Every parent wishes this for their children—a happy family. I cannot imagine life without my little ones. My younger brother, who lives in France, married young and is the father of five children. If my own Paul had survived,” she added with a shy smile, “perhaps I would have matched Christopher’s record by now.”
She couldn’t bring herself to ask Tom how old he was or why he hadn’t married. In spite of what Rita had said about him being interested only in the magazine, Lili remembered the light in his eyes when he’d looked at her. And besides, Tom was a very sexy man. It was a wonder some woman hadn’t managed to lead him to the altar by now.
“I am sorry, but I still do not see where I enter into this problem of wedding bells,” she said. “You are my employer, but we know very little about each other. We are still almost strangers.”
“Right,” Tom agreed with a cautious glance at the playing field, where the children had gone back to their soccer game. “It’s just that I noticed my father’s reaction after he met you and saw Paul.” He took a deep breath. “I know this may sound strange to you, but I’m afraid Dad sees you as a likely marriage prospect for me.”
Lili blinked. Being the target of the senior Eldridge’s matchmaking plans for Tom was surprising, and yet it touched her, too. Homer Eldridge must be a very caring father to be so concerned about his son’s happiness.
The realization that Tom was actually afraid she was being considered as a suitable marriage partner for him brought a pang of regret to her heart.
If only she hadn’t been so foolish as to have the same impossible dream, she would have been able to laugh off the senior Eldridge’s interest in her as merely an amusing idea. What wasn’t amusing was Tom’s reaction to his father’s dinner invitation. She might wish to be in Tom’s arms, making love with him, but it was crystal clear that he did not share such a dream.
She tried to smile away the growing tension she felt between them. “I am sure your father is only trying to be kind. If you wish, I will call and give him my regrets.”
Tom shook his head. “If you knew my father as well as I do, you’d know it’s not that easy. I know I have a reputation around the magazine for being stubborn,” he added with a wry smile, “but my father has me beat. Dad’s a pro at getting his way.”
“But he’s never met me before today,” Lili protested. “I am not the easygoing woman I appear to be. If I were, I would never have managed to take care of myself and the children these past four years.”
Tom studied Lili. He, too, had underestimated her. Strong when he’d thought her mild mannered, wise when he’d thought her merely opinionated, Lili was not only beautiful and intelligent but self-reliant and capable. And, judging from the fire in her exquisite eyes, sensually exciting.
He couldn’t understand his muddled thinking. A month ago, he’d hardly noticed her. Well, maybe a little on his occasional visits to the art department. But he sure noticed her now.