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СКАЧАТЬ She was still in the process of recovering the huge chunk of her savings she’d spent on the wedding dress that still hung in her closet. Despite feeling that the likelihood of her ever needing it was slim, she was strangely reluctant to sell it.

      She made her way through the room to where Rita had staked out a corner table. Now was her chance to discuss plans for Sullivan’s enlightenment.

      Rita smiled wryly as April approached the table. “I can always tell when you have an earthshaking idea on your mind. Something sinful like sex, I hope?”

      April dropped her purse and the folder on the table. “Rita Rosales, is sex all you ever think about?”

      “Why not?” Rita answered, her green eyes glowing with mischief. “Even if they’re not willing to admit it, sex is what everyone thinks about. At least most of the time.”

      “No, not everyone.” April handed Rita the folder that contained Sullivan’s manuscript. “Certainly not the author of this article.”

      Rita’s eyes widened in disbelief as she skimmed the first few pages. “You mean a man actually wrote this? How old is he, anyway? Ninety-five?”

      “Yes, a man wrote this.” April laughed as she searched for her wallet. “In fact, I just met him. His name is Lucas Sullivan and, it turns out, he’s an old friend of Tom’s. He’s a rumpled academic type, the sort who looks like he could have written something like this. But I’d say he’s only in his early thirties.”

      “Get outta here!” Rita pushed her salad aside, opened the folder and proceeded to read out loud. “‘While a man is not monogamous by nature, he is more likely to see a woman as a potential girlfriend or mate if sexual intimacy doesn’t occur too soon.’”

      “I don’t believe this,” Rita muttered. “Sheesh, look at this—’A woman must strive for compatibility, rather than try to be sexy.’” She flipped to another page. “And what’s this crap about a woman ‘being generous in her praise of a man’s achievements’? This guy seems to think that sexual attraction doesn’t count for anything. He’s got to be joking.”

      “Tom doesn’t think so. He not only suggested Sullivan write the article, he’s making it the lead feature in the September issue.”

      “What doesn’t Tom think?” Lili Soulé, the petite Frenchwoman who completed the trio of friends, arrived at the table slightly out of breath. Perpetually in a rush after trying to keep up with her two lively children, Lili always seemed breathless.

      April smiled at her. Lili was a widow and without a man in her life. April believed that her friend had a crush on Tom Eldridge, but was too shy to show it. To make things worse, Tom, along with the rest of the single men on the magazine’s staff, hadn’t even seemed to notice Lili at last year’s company picnic—Lili had been there with her children. Too bad men couldn’t see past a ready-made family.

      “I’ll explain after I get my hamburger,” April said. “Rita, give Lili one of the pages to read until I get back.”

      Rita was right on, April thought as she made her way to the hamburger station. She considered her friends’ obvious physical attractions, Rita’s generous curves and Lili’s slender beauty. If Sullivan thought that all a woman had to do to be considered a desirable mate was to flatter a man’s ego and suppress her sexual urgings, he’d not only never met two women like Rita and Lili, he had a surprise coming. There had to be something lacking in Sullivan’s psyche if he actually believed the mating game was played without an initial mutual physical attraction.

      Minutes later, April made her way back to the table. “So, what do you think of Sullivan’s rules?”

      In answer, Lili read aloud: “‘A woman must rein in her own desires to promote the health of a relationship.’” She shook her head. “I never would have had the twins if I hadn’t shown their father the way I felt about him,” she said wistfully. “If this man truly believes this, most women would never have children until they were too old to enjoy them.”

      Rita patted her hand sympathetically. “At least you have Paul Jr. and Paulette to remember your Paul by.” Then abruptly changing gears, she snatched the page from Lili. “Just listen to this one. ‘A happy relationship requires that a woman make her man feel masculine.’”

      “Without sex? No way,” Rita scoffed. “If the man doesn’t realize the mating game starts with a sexual attraction he hasn’t done his homework. As far as I’m concerned, sex ought to be rule number one.”

      April laughed and almost choked on her hamburger. “To give the man some credit, Rita, I think he only means sexual attraction should be ignored at the outset of a relationship.”

      “No way!” Rita said staunchly. “I still think you have to do something to straighten out this guy’s thinking. He’s definitely a man who has to be saved from himself.”

      “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. СКАЧАТЬ