Perfect Partners (24 page)

She flushed as he opened the door. “I wasn't sure you'd want to. Not after what happened today.”

“You mean Dixon showing up and you ducking out on me?” Joel opened the door. “I didn't like it, but that was business. This is personal.”

“I'm not sure the two can be separated.”

Joel closed the door and reached for her. “Listen to me, Letty. I will say this once and once only. You will never have to worry about me marrying you in order to get Thornquist Gear. I was accused once before of wanting to marry a woman in order to get my hands on a company. I'll be damned if anyone's going to accuse me of it again. Got that?”

She searched his face intently. “What should I worry about?”

Joel smiled slowly as he lowered the zipper of her down coat. “Tonight you don't have to worry about a single thing.”

Her eyes were brilliant with excitement now. He could feel the passion rising in her like a glittering wave of energy. Her tongue touched the corner of her mouth. “Joel?”

“Look at you,” he whispered against her throat. “You're already hot, and so far all I've done is take off your jacket. I told you last time that I'd do it right this time.”

Letty cleared her throat hesitantly. “Yes, well, I suppose I'd better change into my nightgown. Or something.” She pulled away slightly, turning as if to make for the bedroom.

“Forget the nightgown. You won't be needing it.” Joel caught hold of her and tugged her down onto the carpet.

J
oel took his time, and the results were spectacular, just as he had known they would be from the start. He had never experienced anything like Letty's fiery passion in his entire life. It swept through him, igniting his own desire and turning it into an inferno. His whole body felt tight and hard and ready to explode.

He paused to look down at Letty as he prepared to enter her. “You're beautiful,” he managed hoarsely.

It was as though the contours of her body had been designed for his hands—soft, firm breasts, full, rounded buttocks, the inviting triangle of hair below her belly. Everything seemed to have been created with his personal preferences in mind.

Either that or his personal preferences had changed when he met Letty.

But in a pinch he could have resisted those lures. Hell, he was thirty-six years old. He had resisted a lot of lures in his time.

But he knew now as he drew his fingers through the wet heat between her legs that he could never have resisted the overwhelming generosity of her passion. She took whatever he gave her and magnified it a hundredfold. Then she turned it back on him.

She touched him as if he were a living treasure, cradling him in her gentle palm, stroking him until he groaned aloud.

“You're magnificent,” Letty breathed. Her thumb moved across the broad tip of his shaft. “Absolutely incredible.”

Hell, Joel thought, the longer he made love to her, the better it got. “You're the incredible one in this room.” He leaned down to taste one taut nipple. He felt the shiver that went through her.

“Oh, God, yes.” Letty grasped his bare shoulders, pulling him on top of her. “Please, Joel. I can't stand it anymore.”

“I don't think I can, either. Look at me, Letty.”

Her eyes were glowing with a sweet, hot fire as she watched his face. He reached down and slid his finger into her, testing her readiness one last time. She arched her hips in instant response.

“Joel, I mean it. I can't stand any more torture. Do it.” Her nails bit into his shoulders.

At any other time, Joel realized he probably would have laughed in delight at her insistence. But he was too fiercely aroused himself to allow for humor. He had to have her. Now.

Joel surged into Letty's tight warmth, and it was everything he remembered, only infinitely better because she started to climax the moment he entered her.

It was too much. The soft contractions of Letty's body sent Joel over the edge. He heard her call his name, heard his own hoarse shout of satisfaction, and then collapsed on top of her.

He had never realized how good it could be until he met Letty.

A long while later he felt Letty stirring beneath him. Joel raised his head and looked down at her. He smiled at the smug contentment on her face.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

Her fingertips traveled in a clever little path over his shoulders and down his arms. She stretched languidly. “I'm okay.”

Joel realized he had been hoping for a bit more of a response than that. So much for the old ego.

“Yeah. Well, good,” he said. “I'm real glad it was
okay
for you.”

She giggled and pushed at his shoulders. Joel obligingly rolled to one side and then onto his back. Letty came down on his chest, eyes glittering.

“You crazy man. You know perfectly well that was an absolutely fantastic experience. Joel, I feel so free.”

“Yeah?” He enjoyed the feeling of her breasts pillowed on his chest. “You didn't feel free before?”

“Not like this. I feel as if the real me has been trapped somewhere deep inside myself for years.” She kissed him soundly. “How do you do it?”

He grinned. “I don't do it. You do.”

“I wasn't able to do it before you.”

He touched her full mouth with his fingertips. “You just didn't have the right kind of mentor before now.”

Instead of laughing or poking him in the ribs as he had expected, Letty turned unexpectedly serious. “You know something? You may be right.”

“Hey, that was a joke, damn it.” He caught her head between his hands and forced her to focus directly on his eyes. “Don't go getting the idea it'll work like this with just any man now.”

“It won't?” She gave him a look of innocent inquiry.

“No,” Joel said with grave authority. “In fact, I can assure you that without my personal touch, it won't work at all.”

“You're sure of that?”

“One hundred percent positive.”

“Hmm.”

“Letty?”

“Yes, Joel?”

“Stop wriggling. I'm exhausted and I need time to recover.”

That got her attention. “How much time?”

“Why? You in a hurry?”

She slithered around a bit. “I think so. Yes. I'd like to run a little experiment.”

He grinned up at her. “Let me guess. You want to be on top, right?”

“Uh-huh.” She levered herself up into a sitting position and squeezed him with the insides of her thighs. “You just lie back and recover while I try a few things.”

Joel groaned as he felt the beginnings of his own response. It was not possible, he thought. Not so soon. But he could hardly argue with the evidence. Letty smiled with ancient feminine wisdom as he began to stir beneath her. Then she bent her head to brush her mouth lightly across his.

“You know something, Letty?”

“What?”

“Your father doesn't understand you at all.”

She raised her head, eyes curious. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Never mind. Forget it. Kiss me, boss.”

No, Joel thought, Morgan Thornquist did not have a clue to what made Letty tick. The lady was as emotional and passionate as hell.

“It isn't going to work, you know.” Joel slathered real butter on the last of the biscuits Letty had made for breakfast. He popped the morsel into his mouth and chewed with obvious pleasure.

“What isn't going to work?” Letty stacked dishes in the sink. She was still adjusting to the novelty of having a man present at breakfast. Philip had never stayed the entire night. It occurred to her that the intimacy of her relationship with Joel was already several quantum leaps ahead of what she had experienced with Philip.

“You won't be able to keep our relationship a secret at the office for long. Are you sure that was the last biscuit?”

“Yes, I'm sure.”

“Too bad. They sure were good. Do people eat like this every morning back in Nebraska?”

“Indiana. And, no, they don't. Usually we eat cereal like everyone else. Joel, what did you mean about us not being able to keep our relationship secret?”

He shrugged and picked up his coffee mug. “Just what I said.”

She glowered at him in warning. “I feel very strongly that it would be extremely inappropriate if the staff of Thornquist Gear found out you and I had a personal relationship outside the office.”

“You mean if they found out we're sleeping together? I don't see that it would be any big deal. People would talk for a while and that would be the end of it.”

“It would be embarrassing, tacky, and bad for office discipline.”

Joel grinned. “You're the one who spilled the beans while we were in Echo Cove, remember? You gave Escott the distinct impression you and I were
involved
. I think that was how he put it.”

“I did that in the heat of the moment and you know it. I was upset about the fight, and I wanted to assure him nothing was going on between you and Diana. I spoke in haste. Thank goodness Keith is a gentleman. I'm sure he won't say anything.”

“Don't bet on it. Escott's trying to save Copeland Marine. If I were in his shoes, I'd use whatever tools I could find.”

Letty leaned back against the sink. “I don't see how he could possibly use that information.”

“Don't be an idiot. Escott is already trying to use it.”

“How?” Letty demanded.

“He gave you that file because he's hoping you'll intercede on his behalf. He sensed you were the more vulnerable one, and he figures if you're sleeping with me, you might be able to influence me.”

“Could I?” Letty held her breath.

“Not when it comes to business.” Joel glanced at his watch and got to his feet. “You ready to leave for the office?”

Damn him, Letty thought. He did not have to sound so coolly certain that she could not influence him with sex. He was no iceman. She knew that for a fact.

Joel Blackstone was a deeply sensual man. And she was turning out to have unplumbed depths in that department herself. He should not be quite so certain of his own resistance.

“I'm ready,” Letty said.

“Let's get going. By the way, if Dixon shows up today, tell him to get lost.”

“I'll try. But to be perfectly honest, I think it's going to take some doing to discourage him. You may have noticed he's a bit pompous. Very sure of himself. He's accustomed to holding forth in the classroom, and he's used to being deferred to as an outstanding management consultant. Heck, he's used to being deferred to, period.”

Joel took her coat out of the closet and held it for her. “If you can't get rid of him, have Bigley call me. I'll take care of it.”

“You can't just throw him out onto the street, Joel.” Letty stuck her arms into the thick down jacket and was instantly swallowed whole. “He's a highly respected authority in his field. He's written a number of very well received papers on modern business management theory, you know.”

“Get rid of him, Letty.” It was an order.

“Sometimes I think you forget who works for whom around here, Joel Blackstone.”

“You can remind me of my rightful place later on tonight. In bed.”

Letty's office was blessedly free of intruders when she walked into it a short while later. Arthur brought her a cup of coffee and hovered in the doorway, blinking.

“Mr. Manford from Marketing has the revised instructions on the new Pack Up and Go tent for you to approve. He's wondering if you intend to run another field test before signing off on the manual.”

“Yes, I think that would be best. Set up a time for us to meet in the third-floor conference room. Tell him to bring the tent.”

“Got it. Can I get you anything else, Ms. Thornquist?”

“No, thanks, Arthur.” Letty opened her desk drawer and pulled out the file Keith Escott had asked her to read. She thought of Philip Dixon. “If Professor Dixon calls, tell him I'm busy, will you?”

“Sure thing, Ms. Thornquist.” Arthur closed the door.

Letty opened Keith Escott's five-year plan for Copeland Marine and started reading.

An hour and a half later, she acknowledged she needed an expert to interpret some of the intricacies of Keith's plan, but she was convinced he deserved a full hearing. It was abundantly clear that Keith was sure he could put Copeland Marine back on its feet if he was given the freedom and the time to do it.

Letty toyed with a pen as she gazed across the room and wondered how to approach Joel on the delicate subject. He was going to come unglued if she ordered him to give the plan a fair examination.

Arthur's voice on the intercom interrupted Letty's thoughts. He sounded more anxious than usual.

“Ms. Thornquist? There are some people here to see you.”

“People?”

“They say they're a delegation from Echo Cove. They want to talk to you.”

Letty stared at the intercom. Her first thought was that Joel was going to be furious. But she could hardly send them home without listening to what they had to say. “Send them in, Arthur.”

The door opened a few seconds later and Arthur ushered three men into the room. One of them was Stan, the bartender at the Anchor.

“Mr. Stan McBride, Mr. Ed Hartley, and Mr. Ben Jackson,” Arthur said, consulting his notes.

“Thank you, Arthur.” Letty rose to shake hands with the three men.

Arthur blinked rapidly. “Uh, should I notify Mr. Blackstone's office, Ms. Thornquist?”

Stan spoke up quickly. “We came to see you, ma'am. If you don't mind.”

“That's right,” Ben Jackson, thin and balding, put in eagerly. “We wanted to talk to you, ma'am. You're the president of this company.”

Ed Hartley, a gloomy, long-faced individual, nodded sadly. “That's right, Miss Thornquist. We just wanted to have a few minutes of your time, if you don't mind. This is awful important to us.”

Letty looked at Arthur. “I'll notify you if I need Mr. Blackstone's assistance.”

“Yes, Ms. Thornquist.” Arthur backed out of the room, looking distinctly skeptical.

It occurred to Letty that her secretary might go right ahead and call Joel's office anyway. Arthur's loyalties were definitely divided, and there was no denying it was Joel who had put him into this exalted new position. At Thornquist Gear, everyone aimed to please Joel.

“Excuse me a minute, gentlemen.” Letty walked to the door and stepped into the outer office. She closed the door behind her.