possible candidate for a serious relationship, certainly not one that could result in marriage.
"I don't know why you'd make such a joke, but I don't consider it very funny."
"Who said anything about jokes? I'm no different from any other man. I'm attracted to beautiful, sexy women. You have this sleek, elegant, stylishly cool look, but I get the feeling a cauldron of hot emotions is seething just below the surface."
"You've been watching too many operas."
"You're rigid in your ideas. This indicates even more strong emotions. People only fight hard about things that are important to them."
"I see you include pop psychology in your repertoire." She was beginning to get irritated.
"I find you extremely interesting. No good reason, I just do. I guess you might call that chemistry."
Now he was telling her he liked her against reason. While he was taking all of those classes to round out his education, he should have taken one to teach him what not to say to women.
"In case you're interested, you're failing my preliminary test so badly I wouldn't even consider asking you the questions."
He laughed and looked at his watch. "We've got to go. My plane should be almost ready."
"You go on. I'll catch a cab."
"Not on your life." He put several bills on the table and got up. "Come on. You've got to tell me how to pass your preliminary test. I'm anxious to get to those questions."
They talked about his trip while they waited for his limousine. She was surprised he still meant to fly back to Charlotte after the next meeting. He would be gone for just one day.
"You won't get any time to rest."
She didn't know why she was worried about him getting enough sleep. He was a grown man. He didn't need her to tell him when to go to bed.
"I can sleep on a plane. In a taxi, too. The only thing that bothers me is jet lag. I can't ever seem to adjust to the change in time."
They had started on a meaningless discussion of ways to combat jet lag when they got into the limousine. He slammed the door on the limousine as well as on their conversation.
"Now tell me how to pass this test of yours."
Okay he asked for it. "To begin with, never tell a woman you're interested in her in spite of yourself."
"I didn't say that. I meant I don't know what it is about you that appeals to me so much. But it's early days. I'll figure it out."
"And no woman wants to be told she's so sexy men lose control over themselves."
"Bull. Every woman likes to think she has that effect on men. She may not want it to happen, but she likes to think it could."
"Well I don't."
"Okay, you're an exception. What else?"
"She doesn't want a man to tell her he knows her better than she knows herself."
"I never said that."
"You said I was a mass of seething emotions."
"Hell, everybody's a mass of emotions. If they don't seethe, you might as well be dead."
She was getting uneasy. He was knocking over all her objections. "And we don't like to be told things we do are unimportant."
"You don't like me calling your home for wayward girls an avocation?"
"They're not wayward. They've just made a mistake."
"Okay, I withdraw the wayward part, but I stick to it being your avocation. Lots of people are more devoted to their avocations than their vocations. It just depends on how their life falls out."
"It's more than an avocation."
"If you got married and had children, would you give it up?"
"No."
"If it came to a choice between the shelter and your family, would you give it up?"
"If it comes to a choice between Cynthia and your job, will you give it up?"
"I asked you first. And before you say I'm not playing fair, I'll remind you I've missed two days of crucial meetings."
She didn't know why she had to keep reminding herself he had left his meeting, that he had spent most of the day trying to figure out what he needed to do to reach a better understanding with his daughter. He was leaving for Geneva in an hour, but he was coming back at the end of the meeting. At least he said he was. That's more than she'd expected. And whether she wanted to admit it or not, it had changed her opinion of him. Maybe that's why she'd agreed to come out with him tonight. He was proving he wasn't the kind of