Page 11 of Christmas Baby with Her Ultra-Rich Boss

‘Of course they were assumptions but I had to do what I thought was best for me and the baby.’

‘How the hell did you think you would make it to the birth without me finding out?’ She wasn’t obviously pregnant yet but the loose clothing she’d disguised her bump behind wouldn’t hide it for much longer.

A loud rap on the door put a halt to the most excruciating conversation of Lena’s life.

Konstantinos opened it. A blast of frigid air entered the cabin in the seconds it took for him to bring his luggage inside and close the door.

‘I can’t believe I have to stay longer in this godforsaken place,’ he muttered darkly as he slung it all on the bed. He opened the larger case and glared accusingly at her. ‘I’m supposed to be on my way to Australia. Magda’s having to postpone all my appointments and meetings indefinitely until this mess is sorted.’

A flare of temper sneaked up on her. Lena had known he would blame her but being on the receiving end of anger that was colder than the weather outside was harder to bear than she’d imagined. ‘Have you got her to put out the word for my replacement yet?’

‘Don’t give me ideas,’ he growled before rummaging through the case.

‘I’m surprised you haven’t officially sacked me already. After all, you’ve already put Sven in charge.’

‘Someone has to be in overall charge and you can’t be if we’re in here sorting out the messyou’vecreated.’

‘The messIcreated but which you were a very willing and active participant in,’ she reminded him bitterly. ‘We both know you’re going to sack me so why not get it over with or are you getting a kick out of prolonging my misery?’

He pulled out a pair of black, snug-fitting briefs and stepped into them. Pulling them up his legs, he bestowed her with another glare. ‘So not only did you make assumptions about how I would take the news of your pregnancy, you’ve made assumptions that I’m going to sack you?’

‘Well, that’s what you did to my predecessor’s predecessor.’

‘What?’He untied the sash of his robe and irritably shrugged it off.

Suddenly confronted with his practically naked body, Lena quickly averted her eyes. ‘You sacked Annika for being pregnant.’

‘I did not.’

From the periphery of her vision she saw him pull on a pair of black jeans and, breaths and heartbeat quickening, had to make a concerted effort not to stare at him, hating that shehadto make a concerted effort not to stare. How was it possible that she could be so physically aware of him when her whole life was on the cusp of being destroyedbyhim?

‘I was told all about it. You called her into her office. She thought you were going to discuss her maternity leave but you sacked her on the spot for no reason.’ It was Annika’s dismissal that had seen Thom promoted to the general manager role and one of the receptionists promoted to Thom’s role of duty manager, which in turn had created the receptionist vacancy Lena had filled. Konstantinos Siopis’s sacking of the popular Annika had been a nugget of information she’d learned shortly after her arrival at the Ice Hotel and stored in the back of her mind, practically forgotten until she’d taken the pregnancy test.

‘Then you were told wrong.’ He dragged a black, long-sleeved top over his head and pulled it down over his muscular, thickly haired chest and abdomen. ‘I sacked Annika because she allowed the lodge reception to be unmanned for two night shifts. No duty manager, no receptionist, not even a member of the housekeeping team. During one of those unmanned shifts a guest was taken ill.’

Lena’s mouth dropped open in shock. ‘Are you being serious?’

‘Have you known me to be lauded for my jests?’

There was no reason on earth, not under the current circumstances, why this should remind her how surprised she’d been when Konstantinos had, over the course of their meal, revealed himself to actually have a sense of humour. It was a subtle, dry humour but as soon as she’d caught on to it she’d felt like a schoolgirl given the results of an incredibly hard test and learning she’d come top of the class.

It had been while grinning at something he’d said and catching the glimmer of humour in his green eyes that something had shifted in her. In practically the blink of an eye the unattractive face had taken on an endearing quality. By the end of their meal endearing had morphed into fascinating. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder and to Lena’s eyes Konstantinos had become mesmerising.

It pained her that if she wasn’t extremely careful, she could easily find herself mesmerised by his vampiric unattractiveness all over again.

‘What happened to the guest?’ she asked. It had been drilled into Lena during her induction just how important it was that both the lodge reception and The Igloo’s reception always be manned. In this remote, dangerous corner of the world, anything could happen and someone needed to be available to assist in those ‘anythings’ at all times. The reception was always the first port of call. Everything flowed from there.

‘He tripped and suffered a serious head wound walking back to his cabin at night. His wife went to the lodge for help but there was no one there.’

Her eyes widened in horror. ‘No one at all?’ This should not be possible.

‘Now you understand why I had to dismiss her? The guest lay on the path for thirty minutes before help reached him. This was in April. The temperature was below freezing. He was lucky not to have got hypothermia.’

‘I knew nothing of this.’

‘I wouldn’t have done either if the gentleman hadn’t threatened to sue us for negligence. I paid him off and I paid Annika to go quietly, too.’

‘You paid her off when she’d been grossly negligent?’ If Konstantinos was telling the truth then paying Annika off made no sense. There was no reason on earth the lodge should be unmanned. There was always a duty manager and receptionist on duty at all times, plus a doctor on call and numerous other staff on hand to pitch in if needed. They were deliberately overstaffed here to stop anything like an unmanned reception ever occurring.

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