Perfect Partners

haven’t even done much camping.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “So?”
    “Letty, camping equipment is one of our staple product lines. We cater to campers. We sold over a million and a half dollars’ worth of tents alone last year.”
    Her eyes widened. “I don’t see why I have to be an expert with the product in order to sell it. I’m interested in management and growth and the creation of a thriving enterprise. I’m excited about running a big business, not setting up my own tent.”
    Joel swore under his breath. “You don’t know what you’re getting into, lady. Running a growing corporation is not a game. It’s not even a good way to amuse yourself while you get over a broken engagement.”
    Her mouth tightened into a mutinous line. “I am fully aware that I am about to embark on a major career change, and I am prepared to devote myself completely to learning everything I need to know to be successful. I am a very fast learner, Joel.”
    “You think you can just sit down behind the president’s desk tomorrow or the next day and start running things? You think it’s going to come naturally?”
    “Of course not.” She smiled. “I told you I’ve done a great deal of research.”
    “Oh, great. Research.”
    “I am a librarian, you know.”
    “Don’t remind me.”
    “Now, Joel, there’s no need to get so intense over this,” she said soothingly. “I think that may be one of your problems, you know. You’re very intense. As it happens, I have read several articles on the subject of women in business, and they all point to one component that seems to be crucial to success.”
    “What the hell is that?” he demanded.
    “A mentor.”
    That stopped him in his tracks for an instant. “A mentor? Jesus Christ, what are you talking about?”
    “A mentor. You know, a teacher. Someone who takes you under his wing and shows you the ropes. That’s how most people make it up the ladder in the corporate world, Joel. They have mentors who guide them and bring them along.”
    “I never had a mentor,” he snarled.
    “Of course you did. Great-Uncle Charlie was yours. You just didn’t think of him that way because you weren’t familiar with modern corporate jargon.”
    “
Shit
. You think Charlie was a mentor?” Joel’s hand clenched into a fist around the towel. “Let me tell you how it was with me and Charlie Thornquist. Ten years ago I walked in off the street looking for a job. He hired me to run the little shop he had on First Avenue in downtown Seattle because he wanted to go fishing more often. He showed me how to work the cash register and how to lock up at night, and then he left town for two weeks.”
    Letty fixed him with a fascinated gaze. “Really? What happened next?”
    “When he came back to town to check up on me, I told him I thought we ought to start stocking a couple of different lines of sleeping bags. He said fine and took off for a deep-sea fishing trip. I didn’t see him for a month.”
    “Then what happened?”
    “When he got back from that trip, I said the new tents were selling like hotcakes and maybe we should look into renting ski equipment for the season. He told me to do whatever I wanted. After that, I did. I made Thornquist Gear what it is today, damn it.”
    Letty gave him a pleased look. “Which makes you the perfect mentor for me.”
    “
Me
. Your mentor? Are you out of your mind?” He thought about picking Letty up by one slender ankle and dangling her over the railing. He’d be damned before he’d teach her how to run his company.
    “I think it’s going to be a perfect partnership, Joel.”
    “I think I am going to take a shower and go back to bed.” Joel swung around and stalked down the hall to the bed room. He knew for a fact he was not going to get any sleep tonight.

    Letty awoke the next morning with a sense of well-being that she had not felt in a long time. She lay quietly for a while, gazing out the bedroom window as a clear dawn broke over the mountains.
    She still could not believe she had conducted such an intimate conversation with Joel Blackstone last night, but in retrospect she was glad she had done so. What she had confided in him was nothing less than the truth.
    She was going to find whatever it was that had been missing in her life, and she was going to find it in Seattle running Thornquist Gear.
    Letty jumped out of bed and burst into the white tile bathroom. She was feeling so exuberant this morning that she thought she