Perfect Partners

he heard the accusing tone in her words. “Well, yeah, I was. But I don’t see what that has to do with us.”
    “Joel Blackstone, when we get back to Seattle I am going to enroll you in a sensitivity-training seminar.” Letty jerked away from him. “Damn.” She straightened her glasses on her nose and scowled down at her ruined pantyhose. Angrily she yanked them away from her feet and tossed them aside.
    “Letty, what the hell is the matter?”
    She nodded toward the old blankets on the floor of the stall. “Same blankets? Same stall?”
    Joel was outraged at the unfairness of the implied accusation. “It happened fifteen years ago, for God’s sake.”
    “You could at least have picked one of the other stalls.” Letty stepped barefoot back into her pumps and stalked past him. “I think it’s time we went back to the motel. I need a bath. And then I think it’s time to start packing. I’ve had enough of Echo Cove.”

11

    I ‘m sorry, Letty.”
    The words were the first Joel had spoken since leaving the barn. Letty slid him a sidelong glance and noticed the way his fingers were clenched around the Jeep’s steering wheel. Her gaze traveled upward to the grim set of his jaw. She felt herself soften in spite of her recent embarrassment.
    “Forget it.” She surveyed the main street of Echo Cove as they drove toward the motel.
    “I shouldn’t have stopped at that damn barn in the first place.”
    “I’m glad you told me the full story about what happened here all those years ago. At least I understand now why you’re so determined to destroy everything that Victor Copeland has built. Maybe he even deserves it. The problem, Joel, is that you’re going to destroy this whole town in the process.”
    “I don’t give a damn about this town. It’s Copeland’s town.” Joel jerked a thumb at a small cluster of people gathered in front of the bank. “Not one of those fine, civic-minded citizens would stand up to Victor Copeland if he took a mind to start chopping off heads at noon in the town square.”
    “You’re being too harsh, Joel.”
    “I’m telling you how it is, that’s all. Don’t waste any sympathy on the good folk of Echo Cove. They sure wouldn’t waste any on you.”
    Joel pulled into the motel parking lot, then got out and came around to open Letty’s door. “I’ll be packed and ready to leave in fifteen minutes.”
    “Fine.” She smiled coolly at his eagerness to be gone. “I’ll be ready in about an hour. Probably more like forty-five minutes. I told you I wanted to take a shower. I’m a mess.” She reached up and pulled straw from her tangled hair.
    His mouth tightened, but he did not argue. They climbed the stairs in silence. When she reached her room, Letty let herself inside and closed the door with a sense of relief.
    She was still shaky.
    The effects of Joel’s incredible lovemaking combined with the shock of being discovered had definitely rattled her nerves. She hoped a hot shower would relax her. It was going to be a long drive back to Seattle.
    Kicking off her dusty pumps, Letty started toward the small bathroom. Her hand paused on the jacket of her suit as she caught sight of herself in the mirror.
    She was a walking disaster. Everything seemed to be twisted, torn, or creased beyond recognition. Her navy blue suit was so filthy it would have to go directly to the cleaners. The lenses of her glasses were dusty. And her hair looked as if it had been put into a blender. She would have to wash it before the drive to Seattle.
    But there was a rosy flush on her cheeks and an unfamiliar brightness in her eyes. She could feel a lingering warmth between her legs.
    With a start, Letty realized she was still a little aroused. As she stared at herself in the mirror, she turned an even brighter shade of pink. If Joel had not been in such a frantic hurry back there in that horrible barn, she would have had another of those mind-shattering climaxes that he had introduced her to the other night. She had been on the brink. She was certain of it.
    She made a face at herself in the mirror. She was becoming obsessed with sex.
    “Oh, my God.” The thought sent her reeling into the bathroom. Somewhere she had read an article that claimed women really hit their stride, sexually speaking, in their thirties. And she was, after all, on the verge of turning thirty. Maybe it was all coming together for her at last.
    Thanks to Joel Blackstone. No, Joel had told her she was hot. Hot