Perfect Partners

touring the yard this afternoon?”
    “He offered to show us around, that’s all.”
    “You going?” Joel asked.
    “Of course. Don’t you want to come with me?”
    “Shit. I guess I’d better. If I don’t, Copeland will probably play a few more violins for you.”
    Letty’s chin came up. “And I just might listen.”
    “Listen all you want. You can’t stop this thing, Letty. It’s too damn late. You can’t risk Thornquist Gear just to save Copeland Marine, and that’s what trying to keep Copeland afloat would do. It would jeopardize Thornquist. Kill off your own company and you’ll put three times as many people out of work as you will here in Echo Cove. That’s the bottom line, boss.”
    “
Don’t call me boss
,” she shouted.
    He was startled by her burst of fury. She had been so cool and controlled until now. “Okay, okay. Take it easy, Letty.”
    “I am going to take a walk along the waterfront and have a look around Echo Cove before our tour of Copeland Marine. I need some fresh air.” She went over to the closet and found a pair of trousers. Then she turned to glower at him. “If you will excuse me, I would like to change.”
    Joel did not trust her mood. “I’ll come with you. I can show you around the place.”
    “No, thanks. I’ll find my own way around town. Don’t worry, I won’t get lost.”
    He squelched an uneasy sense of disappointment. Something told him he was not doing a good job of handling the boss today. Maybe she just needed time to cool down. “All right. Suit yourself.” He walked reluctantly toward the connecting door.
    “Joel?”
    He stopped at once and turned his head. “Yeah?”
    “Diana said you were supposed to rescue her fifteen years ago. From whom did she need rescuing?”
    “Diana did not need rescuing,” Joel said. “Believe me, she was the town princess fifteen years ago. She had everything she wanted. The best clothes, a new convertible, admission to an exclusive private college, everything. All she had to do was ask her daddy for something one day and the next day it was hers.”
    “Except you. Victor wouldn’t let her have you.”
    “No.” Joel walked into his own room. He started to close the door.
    “Joel?”
    “Now what?”
    “It’s becoming fairly obvious that you’re back in Echo Cove because of what happened between you and Diana fifteen years ago. You apparently failed to rescue her then. Are you thinking of doing it now?”
    Joel shook his head in disgust. “You aren’t getting the picture here, boss. I am no longer in the rescue business.”

    Half an hour later Letty stood in Echo Cove’s tiny shorefront park and gazed out over the water. The sun was shining, but there were clouds moving toward the land. A brisk breeze was toying with her hair and making her jacket flap.
    She felt restless and disheartened for the first time since she had left Indiana. Everything had seemed so clear a few weeks ago when she made the decision to quit her job and move to Seattle. Thornquist Gear and a new life had been waiting for her. She had seized the opportunity with both hands, sensing the rightness of it. It had seemed so easy, so perfect.
    She recalled Great-Uncle Charlie telling her once during a rare philosophical moment between fishing trips that there was no such thing as a free lunch.
    Letty realized she was only just beginning to understand what an enormous glitch Joel Blackstone was causing in her new life-style.
    Nothing went right around Joel. Nothing happened the way it was supposed to happen. Nothing was quite what it seemed.
    Except last night, Letty thought wistfully. For a while last night everything had gone perfectly.
    How odd for Joel to say he was no longer in the rescue business. Last night he had rescued her from her secret, growing fear that she would never experience the full power of her own body.
    Letty told herself with some satisfaction that she had known all along she just needed to meet the right man.
    Too bad the right man was so hell-bent on vengeance and destruction.
    Letty knew that, for her, the possibility of love was beginning to loom very large.

    At two-thirty that afternoon, Victor Copeland led Letty and Joel into his upstairs office. A window on one wall provided a view of the boatyard they had just toured.
    In spite of the financial problems of Copeland Marine, the facilities were active. Dozens of men in hard hats and work clothes moved about among the assortment of yachts, cruisers, and