Perfect Partners

all he said as he wolfed down a pile of incredibly light buttermilk pancakes.
    She did not like being kept on tenterhooks, he realized, but what the hell. She deserved it. He certainly did not like the growing possibility that the red meat that was Copeland Marine might be snatched from his salivating jaws.
    In any event, he could not give Letty an opinion yet, he told himself as he pored over the plan again in his office. He was still reviewing the damn report. The really annoying thing about Escott’s ideas was that they just might work.
    Joel had been secretly hoping to find a fatal flaw in the management plan, something he could use to show Letty that there was no hope of saving Copeland Marine. Unfortunately, Escott had done a brilliant job of outlining the potential of the company and had come up with a realistic method of fulfilling it.
    It would have been so much easier, Joel thought, if he could have pointed to a simple, logical reason for shooting down Letty’s suggestion of salvaging the company.
    His secretary’s voice on the intercom interrupted Joel just as he was starting to run another set of numbers.
    “A Mrs. Diana Escott to see you, sir. Are you free?” The chilly note in Mrs. Sedgewick’s voice said it all: she did not entirely approve of Joel’s visitor.
    Damn, Joel thought. Just what he needed. “Send her in, Mrs. Sedgewick.”
    Diana swept into the room in a cloud of unsubtle perfume. The whiff of aroma made Joel realize that Letty never wore perfume. He disliked strong artificial fragrances. He liked the way Letty smelled all on her own.
    “Hello, Joel.”
    “This is a surprise.” Joel got slowly to his feet. “Sit down, Diana.”
    “Thank you.”
    Diana dropped gracefully into the chair across from his desk. She was dressed in a chic black and white suit that complemented her dramatic coloring. The jacket was nipped in at the waist and flared out gently over her hips. When she crossed her long legs, Joel saw that her high heels were glossy and black. He watched her survey the office with a long, assessing glance.
    “You really have done very well for yourself, haven’t you, Joel?”
    “It’s a living. What can I do for you, Diana?”
    “You know why I’m here.”
    Joel leaned back in his chair. “Maybe you had better spell it out.”
    “Keith told me he gave you his five-year plan for Copeland Marine.”
    “He didn’t give it to me. He gave it to Letty. I mean, Ms. Thornquist.”
    Diana brushed that aside with a dismissive movement of her elegant hand. “We all know who runs Thornquist Gear.”
    “Is that right? I’ve been starting to wonder about that myself.”
    Diana’s eyes blazed. “This is not a joke. Since you left Echo Cove, I’ve learned a great deal about the situation here. According to what I heard, this Letty Thornquist person only recently inherited the company. She’s an ex-librarian, for heaven’s sake. Worked at a college in the Midwest somewhere. She knows nothing about business.”
    “Just out of curiosity, where did you hear all that?”
    “A man named Philip Dixon talked to Daddy yesterday.”
    “
Dixon
. He was in Echo Cove?” Joel sat forward abruptly. “That son of a bitch.”
    Diana frowned. “Do you know him?”
    “I know him.”
    “He’s telling everyone that he’ll be marrying Letty Thornquist soon and that he’ll be making the decisions for Thornquist Gear in the future. I think Daddy’s trying to cut some sort of a deal with him.”
    Joel paused, letting the possibilities sink in. “Your father believes Dixon’s on the level?”
    “Isn’t he? Joel, I can’t stand this anymore. It’s all getting so confused. If you’re going to shut down Copeland Marine, just do it and get it over with, will you? Don’t drag things out like this.”
    Joel started to respond, but before he could say anything, his attention was caught by a commotion in his outer office.
    “Kindly stand aside, Mrs. Sedgewick. I told you I want to see Mr. Blackstone now. When I say now, I mean
now
.” Letty’s voice was muffled by the paneling of the door, but every word was audible.
    “I cannot allow you to just barge in on Mr. Blackstone when he’s in conference,” Mrs. Sedgewick retorted fiercely. “I told you, he’s with someone at the moment.”
    “I know who he’s with. Arthur informed me a minute ago. Now get out of my
way
.”
    The door slammed open, revealing a more than normally disheveled Letty. One would never have guessed that