Perfect Partners

“Such as?”
    Letty decided the moment had arrived to take the bull by the horns. “Well, for one thing, you’re thirty-six years old. Isn’t it time you started thinking about getting married and starting a family?”
    “A
family
.” He stared at her, clearly startled. “What the hell brought that up?”
    “I don’t know,” Letty mumbled, regretting her impulsive words. “Maybe I’ve gone to one too many of Stephanie’s baby classes.”
And maybe I’ve fallen in love with you, Joel Blackstone
, she thought.
    “Yeah, maybe you have been going to too many baby classes. And reading too many articles.” Joel gave her an odd look as he circled her to get back behind his desk. “Look, I’ve told you I’m giving Escott’s proposal serious consideration. That’s all I’m going to say now. Go pitch a tent or something. I want to do some thinking.”
    Letty fumbled for and found a wan smile. “That’s no way to talk to the president of the company,” she chided.
    Joel’s eyes gleamed. “You’re right. Any good CEO who was properly focused on the corporate image would politely tell the president that her shirttail is hanging out in back.”
    Letty flushed and reached behind her to stuff the hem of her silk shirt back inside the waistband of her skirt. “It’s Mrs. Sedgewick’s fault. She kept grabbing at me when I was trying to get in here earlier.”
    “Why did you stage a knock-down, drag-out battle with Mrs. Sedgewick to interrupt Diana and me, anyway?” Joel asked softly.
    Letty sniffed and started for the door. “For the sake of corporate decorum, naturally. It doesn’t look good for a male CEO to be closeted alone with an attractive woman for a long time. I didn’t want people to talk.”
    “Uh-huh. Is there just the remotest possibility that you were a touch jealous, Madam President? Perhaps feeling a tad possessive? Maybe even mildly alarmed by the thought of me being alone in here with another woman?”
    Letty’s hand was on the doorknob. “Nonsense. Jealousy is an irrational emotion. I’m not capable of that. Just ask my father.”
    “Few of us have your father’s ability to rise above petty emotions,” Joel drawled. “Some of us tend to wallow in them.”
    “Speak for yourself.” Letty started to turn the doorknob and hesitated. “Joel?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Do you mind telling me exactly what you saw in Diana fifteen years ago?”
    “In a nutshell?”
    “Yes.”
    Joel shrugged. “She was the prettiest girl in town, and she was an incredible flirt. She was also spoiled rotten. When she decided she wanted a taste of walking on the wild side, which for her meant dating someone from the wrong side of the tracks, I jumped at the opportunity to accommodate her. After I got to know her a little better, I felt kind of sorry for her. I saw her as a bird in a gilded cage, I guess.”
    “But in the end you fell helplessly, mindlessly, passionately in love with her, didn’t you?”
    Joel’s mouth quirked. “I’ll tell you something, Letty. The phrase ‘helplessly, mindlessly, passionately in love’ has a slightly different meaning for a twenty-one-year-old male than it does for a thirty-six-year-old male.”
    Letty licked her lips. “So you would probably not feel that way about her today? If you were to meet her for the first time without all the past emotional baggage attached, say?”
    “No. I wouldn’t feel like that at all.”
    Letty’s heart lifted at that. “Because you realize she’s not really your type?”
    Joel looked thoughtful. “I think it would be mostly because she looks too damn neat in a suit. I seem to be turned on by the rumpled look these days.”
    Letty slammed the door on her way out of the office. Mrs. Sedgewick glowered.

    The following morning, ensconced behind her own desk and deep into a description of the new ad campaign for Pack Up and Go tents, Letty realized she was still stewing over what Joel had said after Diana left the office the previous day. Or, rather, over his startled surprise when she mentioned marriage and a family.
    Okay, so he had obviously not been thinking a whole lot lately about getting married and starting a family.
    One could attribute that to general male obtuseness. Maybe he just needed a little prodding in the right direction. Letty brightened briefly at the thought that she had at least planted the notion in his brain. Now all she could do was wait and see if it took root.
    On a more positive note, she felt