Page 18 of Christmas Baby with Her Ultra-Rich Boss

‘I’ll get it,’ Konstantinos said.

She didn’t argue. Her exhaustion was so great she suspected she might have trouble dragging herself off the sofa to crawl into her bed.

She didn’t argue, either, when Konstantinos took charge, rooting through her cupboards for plates to serve their heat-sealed meals onto.

Sticking a cushion on her lap as a tray, she smiled her thanks when he handed her plate to her. She had a feeling the chef would cry if he saw how his usually immaculately presented food had been splattered on her plate.

‘You know all the staff will be gossiping about us,’ she said after they’d eaten in silence for a few minutes. At least, she’d tried to eat. It was difficult getting food down her throat with Konstantinos sitting across from her on the tiny table her mother had made for her and Heidi when they’d been little girls. She imagined it had been a long time since he’d eaten at anything but a formal dining table, never mind eating with his backside barely a foot from the floor and having to hover his plate close to his chest with one hand and so able to eat with only his fork with the other.

He stared at her meditatively as he swallowed his mouthful. While she’d managed barely a quarter of her dinner, he’d practically finished his. ‘It will only get worse. It won’t be long until everyone knows you’re pregnant with my child.’

That tightened her throat even more.

The jaw with an abundance of black stubble tightened, too, and he said abruptly, ‘What happened earlier was a mistake. I apologise.’

‘Do you mean when you kissed me?’

He inclined his head.

‘Do you have to keep insulting me?’

A thick black eyebrow rose.

‘That’s twice you’ve called me a mistake.’

‘Lena, you are my employee.’

‘Only for a few more months,’ she muttered.

‘We shall talk about that, but I meant—’

‘What do you mean,“We shall talk about that”?’ she interrupted, alarmed. ‘You said you weren’t going to sack me.’

‘I’m not going to sack you but you cannot keep working here.’

‘So youaregoing to sack me!’

‘No!’ Jaw clenched, he got to his feet and carried his plate to the sink. ‘But you know as well as I do that you cannot have the baby here and I think it would be better—safer—for you and the baby if you left as soon as possible.’

‘We’re perfectly safe here.’

‘For now, yes, but what if there are complications further along the line? The medical team and facilities here are excellent but they are not specialists in pregnancies. We need to start putting things into place now. Sven can take on your role until a permanent replacement can be appointed...’ His eyes narrowed. ‘You agree that you can’t come back after the birth?’

She nodded miserably, not at the thought of giving up the job she loved—she’d long come to terms with that—but at the realisation that all agency she had over her own life was being lost and placed into Konstantinos’s hands.

‘You don’t agree?’

‘No, I do agree. This is no place to raise a child.’ This was a frozen tourist resort in the middle of nowhere; the only Siopis hotel without childcare facilities for its staff.

‘Then why are you looking like that?’ he asked.

‘Because I’m now in your power and it’s a scary place to be.’

‘You are not in my power,’ he dismissed.

‘Of course I am.’

‘If this is about earlier then I have already apologised.’

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