Free Charming Lily by Fern Michaels Page A

go off on him. I know you don’t like Marcus, but I think Dennis is okay. He’s to Matt what I am to you. Remember that.”
    â€œI will, Sadie. I promise. I’m feeling better already. You know what I mean.”
    â€œIt’s Dennis.” Sadie ran to the door and threw it open. Gracie barked happily at the sight of Dennis, the guy who had tussled with her on more than one occasion back in New York. She made no move to go to him and waited for him to bend down and cup her head in his hands. She almost purred with the attention. Buzz growled. Dennis backed off.
    He looks a lot like Matt, Lily thought. He was dressed like his boss in jeans, sweatshirt, and well-worn sneakers. There were no holes in the toes, however. They were also minus shoelaces. Idiosyncracies of the male species.
    â€œHow are you, Lily?”
    â€œI’m okay. We need to sit down and talk. I want . . . no, that’s not right, I need to believe Matt didn’t dump me at the altar. Finding Gracie like this is telling me maybe you’re right, and something has happened to Matt. We’re all in agreement that Matt would never let Gracie out of his sight, much less dump her alongside the road. We’ve seen her for days now, but didn’t realize it was Gracie. We thought she was a stray dog just wandering around. We even tried to catch her. That means she’s been running loose for two days. Whatever happened to Matt, if something did happen, happened three days ago. Maybe even before that. There’s no way to know for sure. Trails grow cold in that span of time. Matt really doesn’t know Natchez all that well. The few times he’s been here, I did the driving. We were so busy talking, I know he didn’t pay any attention to the scenery unless I mentioned a particular landmark or some point of interest. He knows about Natchez, but he doesn’t know it if you know what I mean. Hell, I’m a transplant, I don’t even know it. This property was once owned by Sadie’s great-great-grandmother. Her mother inherited it when we were all living in Florida, but none of her family wanted to come back here. Sadie doesn’t know much more about the area than I do. It looks like we’ll all be learning about it as we go along. Is there anything you know that you haven’t told us, Dennis?”
    Dennis smiled, but the smile was directed at Sadie. “Nothing that would have anything to do with Matt leaving you standing at the altar. All kinds of things are going on at the office. When someone like Matt decides to take the plunge, it’s big news. Everyone starts to scramble and jockey for position. Some pretty unhealthy and ugly rumors started circulating about a month ago. Matt changed then. At first I didn’t know what was going on. When things like this start happening, people choose up sides. It was my side, and then there was Marcus’s side. We’re going to be unveiling some new software that will change the industry. Big stuff. We were all waiting to see whose side Matt was leaning toward, Marcus’s or mine. To this day, I don’t know, and neither does Marcus. At least he says he doesn’t. I’m no Marcus Collins fan. I want that known right up front.”
    â€œDuly noted,” Sadie said quietly.
    â€œWhat were the ugly, unhealthy rumors that were circulating?”
    â€œThat someone high up in the company, someone like Marcus or me, was selling our software secrets to competitors. I think Marcus convinced Matt it was me. My family, all my friends, called to tell me people were coming around asking questions about me, my income, did I buy anything new, you know, big-ticket items, that kind of thing. They ran checks on me at my bank. I don’t mind telling you I was pissed off big-time. I didn’t mind the scrutiny because I have nothing to hide. I was pissed at the secrecy of the whole thing. What I did mind more than anything was that Matt