You’ll be forgiven for not recognizing the stylishly blonde-banged 32-year-old among the major players power-lunching at The Grill. But on this February afternoon, no one will match the deal Lita Belmont just put together over Cobb salad and Pellegrino.

“WE’RE GO” the former development girl texts, eliciting a giddy cheer from her staff of 15 in a nearby office suite. They’ve put in long hours to reach this moment. Long, billable hours. But after weeks in rehab and months of disastrous publicity, client Lindsay Lohan couldn’t afford to do without Belmont’s MatchGirl Group. This team has just delivered what the embattled starlet needs to put her career back on track; what no major movie role could. They’ve brokered a high-profile romance with hunky Josh Hartnett scheduled to roll out this spring. (The Lucky Number Slevin star will wrap his affair with Sienna Miller early next month and take up with Lohan after she completes her rehab stint.)

“Lita has an instinct for coupling like a great designer knows fabrics,” says one personal manager whose client boasts a MatchGirl affair. Belmont blew industry insiders away with her audacious Demi–Ashton deal. Ridiculed as “ludicrous” and “pathetic,” the casting has proven to be the ultimate win-win romance. The GI Jane star is skewing younger while the boyish 70s Show regular gained the gravitas needed to compete for roles like The Guardian. Since then, Belmont’s Treo hasn’t stopped chirping.

Coupling consultants became de rigueur in recent years when celebrity handlers realized their clients’ love lives were way too important to be left to the vagaries of attraction. A major star releases one, maybe two projects a year. But a juicy, preferably stormy, romance keeps them in the public eye all year round. Meryl Streep (2.65 million Google results) may be the finest actress of our time, but in the public’s mind, she’s a shag-with-Kid-Rock short of Pam Anderson status (3.79 million Google results).

Today’s cookie-cutter scripts can’t compete with the intrigue and plot twists of Ben & Jen, Brad & Jen and Brad & Angelina. The sideshows all too often are better entertainment than the shows. Says an agent for one up-and-coming male star confided to LA2DAY, “These days, fans – and studios - don’t care what he was in. They want to know ‘Who was he in?’ ”

Take Ben Affleck. While bad performances can sink your career, bad breakups can prolong it. A crash-and-burn affair like the recent Timberlake/Diaz debacle gets you “wallpapered” (a complete front-page sweep of the gossip rags). Forget the old adage, you can buy that kind of publicity... and Lita Belmont has the Bel Air mansion to prove it. Timberlake, Diaz and “other woman” Jessica Biel are all MatchGirl clients.

The development, maintenance and selective sabotage of A-list affairs is as buttoned up as a NASA launch. Lohan’s new beau was culled from a short list of seven top young stars. Belmont’s staff focus-grouped the prospective pairings in Kansas City and Spokane to see which resonated best with Lindsay’s fan base. Then Lita did what she does best – pitched Hartnett’s people “the story.” In this case, it’s a beautiful child star coming out of rehab... and Josh - a pillar of strength - takes her under his wing, helping Lindsay to love life again. But like all good Hollywood stories, it has its ups and downs. There will be very public spats and meltdowns and reconciliations. And a year from now, Josh Hartnett isn’t just another flavor-of-the-month pretty boy. He’s the household name dating Lindsay Lohan. Plus Hartnett’s got very little exposure on the back end. If Lohan wigs out, Josh gets the sympathy. He was there for her, but Lindsay was beyond help.

The next steps: paparazzi-testing the couple to see how they look in photos together – in designer wear on a red carpet, on a midnight Tommy Burgers run, through a telephoto lens aboard a yacht. The relationship is slated to kick in just before Lindsay’s tearful Diane Sawyer interview during May sweeps. From there, love and celebrity will take their courses.

But Lita Belmont didn’t become LA’s hottest romanciere by resting on her laurels. Even before The Grill’s valet arrives with her Boxster, she’s already rolling calls for her next coupling coup. “This is gonna be major, even for me,” she confides. So just how does Belmont propose to end Michael Richards’ publicity nightmare? By putting Dreamgirl Jennifer Hudson on his arm. And remember, LA, you heard it here first!