Page 2 of Christmas Baby with Her Ultra-Rich Boss

It was an impulsive decision he’d regretted as soon as he’d made it.

He’d never visited one of his businesses with such a tightness in his chest before, and for that he blamed himself and his stupidity of five months ago.

Since striking out on his own, Konstantinos had conducted a version of what his own father had done whenever hiring a new member of staff for the family restaurant, namely sharing a meal with the new recruit, the simple breaking of bread a gesture of welcome. As Konstantinos now hired thousands of people around the world, it had long been unfeasible for him to continue it, but the tradition held in its own way, those responsible for hiring anywhere within his organisation expected to take new staff members out for a meal, the expenses taken care of by the Siopis Group. As the most senior appointments were made by Konstantinos himself, he continued the tradition with staff appointed directly by him. Which was how he’d ended up sharing a meal with Lena Weir after promoting her to manager of his Ice Hotel.

Although the location was as remote as remote could be, there were a range of high-class eateries dotted around the site, including the hotel’s very own Michelin-starred restaurant, which is where they’d dined. They’d made their way through the whole tasting menu, pairing each course with the recommended wine, and somehow managed to get through three bottles between them. It had seemed like the most natural thing in the world to walk her to her cabin, even more natural to accept her invitation of a coffee.

They’d been exceedingly polite to each other the next morning and he’d left Sweden reasonably certain it wouldn’t affect their working relationship. He’d been given no reason to think otherwise since.

Lena Weir was no fool. She was a woman who did her homework—her tenacity in all things was one of the reasons he’d entrusted the job to her—and she would know a man didn’t reach the age of thirty-seven without settling down or having any notable relationships unless that was exactly how he wanted it.

Shapes emerged through the car’s headlights. They’d almost reached the hotel complex.

His chest tightened into a pin.

Konstantinos had never gotten drunk with an employee before. He’d certainly never slept with one.

It had been a mistake. They’d both agreed that the next morning.

It had been a mistake that would never be spoken of or alluded to again.

When the huge all-terrain car pulled up at the front of the all-year reception lodge, Lena avoided Sven’s attempt to meet her gaze. She knew the fear she’d find in his stare would only feed the rancid panic gnawing in her stomach.

But her panic was not the same as Sven’s or the other staff who, when told the owner was making a surprise visit, had started racing around like headless chickens. It was their reaction that had pulled her together, even if only superficially, and she’d clapped her hands together to get their attention.

‘We all do our jobs to the high standard he expects of us so what is there to worry about?’ she’d said, before pausing and adding with a half smile, ‘Although, if anyone feels they might have cut some corners in some way, now would be a good time to rectify it.’ A few members of staff had sheepishly scuttled out.

Lena knew whatever corners those staff had cut, they had been minor. Her staff worked hard, for their guests and each other. They were a solid team and had each other’s backs. Konstantinos Siopis would not find anything here that did not meet his exacting standards. At least, she prayed he didn’t. He paid his staff extremely well and was generous with the benefits written into their contracts, but in exchange he demanded perfection. A bad review demanded a thorough investigation, and any staff found to have been negligent in their duties could consider themselves lucky to get away with a written warning for a first offence. There were no second chances. In the five months Lena had been manager she’d only had to deal with three incidents of neglectful staff. Luckily, those minor infringements hadn’t made it onto any review sites and she’d failed to put those infringements in writing on the staff’s individual records. But there was no way Konstantinos could know this...could he? That would be grounds for him to dismiss her.

She swallowed the bile rising up her throat and watched Konstantinos unfold his long, rangy frame out of the back of the car. An abundance of strategically placed LED lights gave enough illumination for anyone to find their way around safely outside, the glow reminding her of the fairy lights her father used to drape around their garden at Christmas when she was a child.

Wrapped in a long lambswool coat that, even with the collar turned up, would give little protection against the cold, he trod his way over the compacted white snow towards the lodge door. Each step closer made the beat of Lena’s heart heavier, and she had to stop her hands moving to protect her belly. Apart from the hotel’s on-site doctor who was bound to confidentiality, no one knew she was pregnant. It was a secret she hugged fearfully to herself, a maternal instinct that had unfurled when the test had proved positive.

Lena could not afford to lose her job. Without it, she had no way to provide for her baby. Nowhere to live outside this remote corner of the world. Her parents’ home in England would always be open to her but there was no room for her and a baby there, not with her tiny childhood bedroom now a makeshift pharmacy and medical equipment storage room for her sister. She had no savings other than what she’d squirrelled away since the pregnancy test had come up positive. Whatever savings her parents had amassed had been quickly depleted after the terrible accident Lena had walked away unscathed from but which had left Heidi needing twenty-four-hour care.

The man she should have been able to turn to, the father of her child, was almost at the door. Her weighty heart almost became stuck in her throat.

While Sven darted forward to open the door for him, Lena grabbed the thick folder she’d prepared and placed it in front of her belly, then sent a silent prayer that Konstantinos didn’t pay too close attention to her figure. The heating inside the lodge was so good that most of the staff usually just wore their uniform polo shirts but in the past couple of weeks, Lena had taken to wearing the smart thick black sweater dress with an inbuilt collar the female customer-facing staff was provided with. Only the most eagle-eyed person would notice that beneath it were signs of a neat but developing bump. To play safe, she’d helped herself to an oversized sweater dress, which so far had been a successful means of disguising it.

Konstantinos stamped the snow stuck to the soles of his boots off at the mat before the door and stepped inside.

His gaze fixed straight onto the woman he’d spent the night with the last time he’d been here. Her large, dark brown eyes met his. A beat passed between them before a welcoming smile lit her face and she strode over to him, a folder clasped in one hand over her stomach, the other outstretched.

‘Mr Siopis, this is an unexpected pleasure.’

‘I’m sure,’ he replied sardonically, clasping his fingers around hers in a businesslike fashion. A flash of warmth darted over and through his skin, and his hold on her tightened reflexively. Immediately, he released the hold and also released his stare to cast his gaze around the immaculate reception room, taking in the traditionally Swedish Christmas decorations and beautifully decorated fir adorning it. The scents of tinsel, cinnamon and orange permeated the air.

Even though the whole non-ice sections and cabins of the Ice Hotel were heated by geothermal means, the main lodge reception had an open log fire roaring, a welcome feature to the freezing cold guests on their arrival. He stepped over and placed his hands before it.

After a moment to gather himself, he turned his face back to Lena. He detected an apprehension that could almost be confused with fear. Both emotions were understandable. He, too, had felt an apprehension at seeing her again. At least, he thought it had been apprehension that had tied his stomach in knots and made his chest feel tight from the moment he’d made his decision to come here. A committed short-term monogamist since Theo and Cassia’s betrayal, Konstantinos had never been a man for one-night stands. The few he’d enjoyed had been hookups with strangers, women he never expected to see again. Women he’d never had to see again. Women he’d never wanted to see again. None of them had lingered in his memories.

Lena had. Lingered, that is. Another reason why breaching professional boundaries was a bad idea. Konstantinos owned twenty-three hotels and invested in numerous other businesses. Since their night together, his heart had skipped a beat that was both unprofessional and inexplicable whenever her name pinged into his inbox. Her emails, always concise and professional, were the only emails he found himself reading twice. Her weekly reports were the only reports he read with more than a scan for the pertinent information.

Never again, he told himself grimly, again. Mixing business with pleasure was a recipe for disaster he’d learned the hard way. To have lapsed as he had, even with the excuse of alcohol thrown into the mix, was a mistake he was forced to regret every time Lena’s name diverted his attention from whatever work he had in hand. And now she stood before him in the flesh, her dark brown hair with the glimmer of russet tones loose around her shoulders, one side tucked behind a small pixie-like ear, framing an oval face that any man would look twice at. Large, velvet brown eyes. Pretty, straight nose. Wide, generous lips. All atop a slender frame with breasts far more generous than the clothes she wore would...

He cut his thoughts off. He should not still be able to feel the weight of Lena’s breasts on the palm of his hand.

‘Has a cabin been made ready for me?’ he asked curtly. Here, in the middle of nowhere, there was a rule that a cabin should always be kept free in case of emergency.

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