Page 45 of Christmas Baby with Her Ultra-Rich Boss

His opportunity came shortly after, when his mother, aunt and one of his cousins bustled off back to the terrace to get another of their nicotine fixes and his father, uncle and grandfather went into the kitchen to check on the food. Konstantinos fixed his stare on Rena, his cousin currently practising her pidgin English on Lena. She noticed, murmured something he couldn’t hear, and disappeared, leaving them alone.

Theos, he could hardly breathe.

The beats of Lena’s heart went into overdrive. She’d hoped the number of people crammed into the modest home meant she could avoid Konstantinos until it was polite for her to leave. She didn’t want to make small talk with him. It was torture enough to share the same air as he did, knowing he hated her very existence.

She wished she could hate him. Wished she didn’t feel so bereft without him. Wished she didn’t long for him to pull her into his arms and tell her he was sorry, that he hadn’t meant any of it, that he loved her.

She wished she could plug her ears from her thoughts.

He hovered before her.

Self-conscious, she crossed her legs and turned her head to the door. If she willed it hard enough, someone would come in and save her.

‘You came,’ he said, unwittingly using the same words his mother had. The difference was his mother had been delighted to see her.

‘I made a promise,’ she said shortly. ‘Although it’s pretty clear they weren’t expecting me. Thanks for letting me know you’d cancelled for me.’

‘I didn’t think you would still want to come.’

‘Don’t you mean you hoped? Well, don’t worry, I won’t outstay my welcome.’

‘From the way they have all taken to you, you could never do that. If I’d known, I would have arranged all your transport and everything for you.’

‘Christmas dinner is not baby related and so comes under thenot interestedcategory,’ she stated acidly.

‘About that.’ She heard him take a deep breath and felt her insides shrivel. God, no, don’t let him find more words to hurt her with. ‘Lena—’

‘Before I forget,’ she interrupted. ‘My parents say thank you for their Christmas present.’

There was a long pause. ‘Please tell them it is my pleasure.’

She raised a shoulder. It was the only movement she was now capable of making. Her entire insides hadn’t just shrivelled but clenched into a tight ball. That money would make a massive difference to their lives, especially to Heidi’s. They’d be able to move, buy a much more spacious house where wheelchairs weren’t prone to getting stuck.

A gong clanged out.

Konstantinos swore under his breath. It was his father’s traditional Christmas method of announcing dinner was ready.

Lena had avoided his stare for the entire conversation.

Lena ate as much as she could of the roast lamb, spinach and cheese pie, and the vast array of vegetables and salads that accompanied it. She pulled her cracker with Konstantinos’s grandfather and wore the paper hat that fell out of it and which all the Siopises seemed completely bemused by but followed suit with their own cracker hats. She ate her share of the sweet treats that followed. She tried to help with the clearing up but was shooed out of the dining room and banned from the kitchen. She sat with Konstantinos’s cousins and helped them with the English they were determined to improve, and then she went back into the dining room for the traditional Siopis game of cards, a game she’d never heard of and which involved much shouting and swearing and accusations of cheating. She ate more of the never-ending stream of food brought out to the table. She exchanged amused looks with Konstantinos’s mother when her father-in-law’s head fell back mid-card game and he started snoring. And all the while, her insides clenched ever tighter and the pain in her heart became more than she could endure.

She didn’t know it, but Grandfather’s snoring was her means of escape. The uncle declared it time to get his father home and Lena used the distraction of all the kisses and embraces to quietly slip away with them.

Out in the cool, fresh air, she wrapped her jacket tighter around herself and took a moment to just breathe.

That had been the hardest day of her life. Every minute had been agony.

Never again. She couldn’t. Couldn’t be in a room with Konstantinos and smile and laugh and pretend she was having a great time when the bleeding of her heart threatened to drown her.

She hid in the shadows until the uncle’s car had passed and then set off. Ten minutes, that was all it would take to walk to the hotel. She would be safe then.

Safe from herself.

Safe from throwing herself at Konstantinos and begging him to come back to her.

Konstantinos spotted Lena’s absence immediately.

‘Where’s Lena?’ he called out sharply.

---