Free The Millionaire Falls Hard by Sarah Fredricks

the background, clearly having to exercise restraint while Lynne made the call. Carrie was thrilled for her friend, she'd not had it easy over the years. Hopefully, now, with Phil, she'd be blissfully happy. Carrie couldn't help but feel a stab of jealousy; her friend seemed to have everything now that Carrie secretly craved.
Having achieved what they'd set out to achieve when they decided to come to Scotland for the weekend, the guys relaxed in the swimming pool late afternoon.
Rob took Carrie for a stroll around the Estate. He didn't beat about the bush.
'What's up Carrie, you look like you haven't slept in a week. Is it the threats, or something else?'
Carrie looked at him, fighting back tears, shook her head and looked away. Rob realised she couldn't talk about it so he pulled her arm through his and kept on walking. He regaled her about what was happening in London and all the good work they'd done in less than a day spent with her. Carrie joined in with news of her own and they were both laughing at something when Carrie spotted Jake coming towards them.
She stopped dead. If she turned round to go back, Jake would know she was bothered by him and Rob would ask questions she wasn't ready to answer. She pinned a smile to her face and started walking again.
'Hello Jake.'
'Carrie.' Jake didn't seem keen to stop but Rob had other ideas.
'Hello Jake. Haven't seen you in a while. How are you enjoying this beautiful place after the hustle and bustle of London?'
Jake was staring at Carrie, wishing himself a million miles away and wasn't listening. He noticed the shadows under her eyes. He noticed her lush red lips begging to be kissed. He remembered what it felt like to have her soft lips melded with his, his tongue dancing with hers. He remembered what it felt like to hold her in his arms.
He vaguely heard a voice talking and turned to Rob. 'Sorry?'
'This place you have here Jake is very beautiful. You must be very proud of what you've achieved with it.'
Jake finally realised who was talking to him.
'Oh, hello Rob, I didn't recognise you for a moment.'
'I bet you didn't ,' thought Rob, ' as you've hardly taken your eyes off Carrie .'
'Yes, I love it here and I can still get down to London in a flash when I need to. Good to see you again. Bye.'
Jake carried on past them as if he'd been stung. Rob glanced at Jake's retreating back and then looked at Carrie.
He hit the jackpot. Jake must be the reason for the dark circles under her eyes.
'Want to talk about it?' he asked quietly.
'No.'
Definitely the reason he thought as they continued their walk. He'd known if he saw them together it would confirm his thoughts about Carrie thinking more about Jake than she'd let on. And you could cut the tension between them with a knife. Just wait 'til he told Sylvie that Jake was THE one. It looked a long way off though before either Carrie or Jake would work that out for themselves.
*
Carrie had never been so relieved for a Monday morning to come round. Rob was a dear friend and she'd had a wonderful weekend. Having a house full had certainly helped distract her from her troubles. She'd even slept better last night than she had for a few days. But, with her guests gone, she could now stop putting a brave face on everything. She'd found that part of it really exhausting.
Rob had never really pried, just done his best to keep her cheerful. She did wonder though how much he'd worked out, but he'd kept his thoughts to himself.
He must have been bursting to fill Sylvie in! That brought a weak smile to her lips as she imagined Rob telling Sylvie that she wouldn't talk about Jake. Well, they could add up two and two, but they would never get the right answer, there was no future for her with Jake.
Lynne was back at her desk and full of her news. She was bubbling over with excitement, with a wedding to plan and another baby to look forward to. They wanted to get married as soon as possible before the baby started to show. Then they would look for