Perfect Partners

and sexy. She, Letty Thornquist, was normal, after all. Just something of a late bloomer, apparently.
    But a part of her knew that if she was the plant, Joel was the gardener.
    Half an hour later Letty was feeling much more fit and ready to deal with the world. She had dressed in wool trousers and a pullover sweater and was trying to force her willful hair into a clip when a knock sounded on the motel room door. Letty put down her brush and went to answer it.
    Keith Escott stood outside, an earnest if somewhat sheepish expression on his handsome face. He had a black eye, and he was holding a file folder in one hand.
    “Sorry to bother you,” Keith said. “But I wanted to talk to you in private, and I think this is going to be my only chance. Do you mind if I come in for a few minutes? This won’t take long.”
    Letty glanced uncertainly over her shoulder at the unmade bed and the open door of the closet. The bathroom was filled with steam. It occurred to her that a lot of modern businesswomen must have to face this sort of dilemma. One point in favor of her former career as a librarian was that she had never had to conduct business in a motel room.
    “Would you rather go downstairs to the coffee shop?” she offered tentatively.
    “There’s a crowd down there. Everyone knows me and will recognize you. I’d rather talk to you in private, if you don’t mind.”
    Letty summoned what she hoped was a corporate smile. “Certainly. Please excuse the mess. The maid hasn’t been in yet.”
    “Believe me, it’s nothing compared to the mess Copeland Marine is in these days. And that’s what I want to talk to you about.” Keith walked into the room and headed straight for the table and chairs near the window. He took a seat and opened the file, clearly too intent on business to notice the state of her room.
    “What have you got there?” Letty came slowly across the room and sat down on the other side of the table.
    Keith looked up. “It’s a five-year plan to salvage Copeland Marine. I’ve been working on it for six months, using computer projections.”
    “I see.”
    “All I’m asking is that you look it over and give it fair consideration. I believe we can rescue the company and put it back on its feet if we do some major debt restructuring and if we overhaul the entire management approach.”
    “Victor Copeland said something about being able to pull the firm out of the red in another couple of quarters.”
    Keith shook his head impatiently. “Not a chance. Not the way he’s going at it. Blackstone is right about that. Copeland Marine is going straight down the tubes, and Victor Copeland doesn’t have a clue as to how to stop it. He’s locked into too many old patterns.”
    “You mean he won’t listen to new ideas?”
    “Copeland hasn’t moved with the times, and now he’s paying the price. I’ve been telling him that for three years.” Keith grimaced. “But of course I’m the last person he wants to hear it from.”
    “But he’s given you a key position in the company.”
    “In name only,” Keith said bitterly. “Oh, sure, I get to crunch numbers and handle a lot of the routine work. I even waste a lot of time on my computer trying to put together operating assessments that will persuade Copeland to change his methods. But the truth is, my father-in-law thinks I’m about half an inch below pond scum.”
    Letty tilted her head while she considered that. “Something tells me Victor Copeland doesn’t respect too many people.”
    “I’ve learned the hard way that the only thing Copeland respects is someone bigger and stronger and more ruthless than he is.”
    “A real old-fashioned kind of guy,” Letty murmured. “Why do you stay at Copeland Marine if you don’t like working for your father-in-law?”
    “Isn’t it obvious? I’m married to the boss’s daughter. Diana insists we stay here in town, and as long as her father wants me working at Copeland Marine, that’s what she wants, too. I’ve tried to make the best of things for the past three years.”
    “Anything for Daddy, right?” Letty asked curiously.
    Keith’s eyes narrowed. “Diana has her reasons for wanting us to stay here. I suppose that, in the beginning, she thought Copeland would actually turn the yard over to me. After all, he was the one who introduced me to her in the first place, and he gave his full approval to the marriage.”
    “I take it he no longer shows any indication of being willing to turn