Page 97 of The Rancher's Secret Relationship

Frankie had no choice to believe her friend with that. "Then whatwereyou thinking about?"

"Rich people."

"O-oh?"

She noticed the way Frankie had tensed and remembered what Curt said.

I think Freddie knows.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip.

Did Frankie know? Was that why she had so been against her friend hooking up with Thornton? But if she knew...then why didn't Frankie warn her? Or maybe...she couldn't. Maybe...she had signed away her rights with some non-disclosure agreements. Rich people loved their NDAs so much they would probably go to bed with it if they could.

"Blake?"

She looked up, startled and feeling just a little bit guilty. "Yup?" She hated the way she had been distrustful of her friend lately, and even though she instinctively knew Frankie would neverdo a thing to hurt or betray her...it didn't seem to make any difference.

Frankie finally decided to be blunt. "You've been giving me strange looks lately."

Sheep.

"I'm sorry," she heard herself mumble. "But it's really not just you. Sometimes, I don't even notice where or who I'm looking at. I just lose myself in my thoughts so easily these days."

"Because of Thornton."

She nodded. This, at least, was partially the truth.

"It's been two weeks, you know," Frankie said gently. "What really happened?" She genuinely wanted to know, if only so she could better understand how to help her friend.

"It just didn't work out."

Frankie had to work extremely hard not to challenge Blake's words.Just didn't work?It could be true with any other dreaded C-word. But Blake and Thornton?Never.Things couldn't justnotwork out for people like them.

Blake had fallen so hard for her boss that despite witnessing countless times just how crazy mercurial her so-called beloved could be, she still thought of him as perfect.

And then there was Thornton. The man used to have a batting average of three words per week. For several consecutive years. And yet after Blake, he had undergone a 180-degree change and now had a working vocabulary of about fifty words (and counting).

Frankie might not have been in favor of their relationship at the start, but she wasn't blind either. She had seen the way Blake blossomed under his attention and how much Thornton had loosened up because of her friend. The two of them being together might not have made sense on paper, but they had felt right.So right that Frankie knew things just couldn't stop working out between them.

It had to be something else.

Or...

"There'ssomeone else, isn't there? A third party? Right?"

The words, blurted out just as Frankie and Blake entered the cafe, fell in a chasm of awkward silence. Because apparently, they had arrived a lot earlier, and the only ones inside were Elizabeth, Arden, and the Blackwood brothers.

All three accounted for,Frankie realized with a gulp,and all three also seemed to have heard everything she said.

It took a dreadful amount of time before anyone thought to move, and the first one who was able to do so...had to be Thornton.

Naturally,Blake found herself thinking, even though she wasn't quite sure what was so natural about it. His ability to respond first, wherever she was concerned? But if that were true, then that meant he really did care for her...which was impossible.

Her heart was racing against her will, so, so fast it made everything around her move in seeming slow motion. And that included Thornton, who was heading...straight...for her.

Thornton could feel his entire face harden when Blake suddenly ran past him like he didn't exist.

"Elizabeth, it's been so long!"

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