Free The Bride Takes a Powder by Jane Leopold Quinn

mixed with anxiety
rolled over him. He'd been a fool to fall for her. Shut it! You didn't fall for her! What game was she playing? Was
she using him as…
    "I'm going to find out what's
going on." He took his dirty dishes into the kitchen, placing them in the
stainless steel sink.
    Ollie followed him in. "Are
you sure you want to get involved in whatever this woman's problems are?"
    Mike didn't turn around, his hands
still in the sink with his dirty plate. "I'm already involved, Dad." A huge mistake. Damn it, I'm not the same
shy nerd I was in college.
    "Have you slept with her?"
    He chuckled drily at how dismayed
his dad sounded. "I didn't tell you but I knew her in college. Slightly.
We didn't run in the same circles."
    "I'm sorry, son. It's none of
my business. I'm not sure, though, that you know what the hell's going on with
her."
    "I don't and no, I haven't
slept with her." Spinning around, he met Ollie's gaze with a slight smile.
    "But you want to." It
wasn't a question. "Mike, I know you're a sensible guy. I just don't want
you to get hurt. She could very well go back to the fiancé."
    "Yeah. I know that." Mike
took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Thanks, Dad,
but I have to take my chances on this one." Ollie patted him on the
shoulder as he headed for the back door.
    It was really none of his business.
She was none of his business, but he wanted the truth from her. Heading toward
the McMillan House he automatically checked the river as he stalked past. It
wasn't going down, that was for sure.
    Norah and Jan were on the porch, Norah
in the swing, Jan in the rocking chair. She was a nice woman. The last thing he
wanted to do was air his anger and confusion in front of her. Forcing his face
out of the scowl he'd built up on his way here, he placed a foot on the first
step and leaned forward, balancing an arm on his thigh. "Morning, ladies."
    "Mornin', Mike. Would you like
to join us for some coffee?" Jan asked.
    "No thanks, Jan. I've had
enough." That was an understatement since his stomach churned, and his
heart raced as if he'd had too much caffeine. He wondered if she'd heard the TV
news report, or maybe she already knew the whole story.
    Jan's gaze shifted between them.
She sensed something was going on and she rose. "I've got some things to
do. I'll see you both later."
    "You don't have to go,"
he said perfunctorily.
    "I think you two have
something to talk about."
    His mouth tight, he replied, "Thank
you, Jan." When the screen door slammed, he climbed the last step to the
porch and balanced his butt on the railing.
    "I suppose you're here with
that expression on your face because you saw the report about me on TV."
Her gaze flitted toward him then away.
    "Yeah, I did."
    "I didn't want anyone to know."
    Her jaw was as clenched as his. He
almost felt sorry for her. How humiliating this had to be for someone as
arrogant as she was, which was how he remembered her. "I wouldn't think
so." He couldn't sit still on the railing and took to pacing back and
forth from one end of the porch to the other. From the farthest away from her
he could get, he gathered his temper and said, "Would you mind telling me
what the hell is going on?"
    "Wasn't it all on TV?"
    "Not nearly, I'm sure. What
the hell is going on?" he repeated. "You told me not to trust anyone,
not people I've known my whole life. You advised me to fight the charges."
    "All true."
    "But you didn't fight. You ran
away."
    "Everyone has something to
hide," she snapped.
    "I'm not hiding anything."
    "Right." She sighed,
squeezing the bridge of her nose. "I am," she said in an undertone.
    "What happened?"
    Leaning her head back on the swing,
she closed her eyes. "It's not long but it's ugly."
    "Yeah, I remember Dunleith."
    Drawing a deep, shaky breath, she
continued, "I thought we'd be happy. We were supposed to be married, gee,
what was it—less than a week ago? It seems like a decade. At the church,
dressed in my wedding gown, we saw it all on