Page 30 of Hired For the Billionaire's Secret Son

Because she adored babies, Helen immediately took Mat from Ollie and, after sitting down, sat him on the edge of the table, her hands on his stout waist as she cooed at Bo’s baby boy.

‘He’s gorgeous, Ol,’ she told her, smiling. Ollie noticed Helen had more grey in her hair but her eyes were the same steady blue, sharply intelligent and full of fun. ‘He’s going to be a looker when he grows up.’

‘You should see his dad,’ Ollie told her.

Helen’s gaze narrowed and she immediately understood Ollie’s subtext. ‘You’re attracted to him?’

How could she not be? Not wanting to tell Helen that she was sleeping with her boss five minutes into their conversation—though Helen would winkle it out of her at some point, she was sure—she asked Helen about her family and how she was.

After Helen’s explanations were over, they placed an order for coffee andbrunsviger, a cake-like dough covered with a thick drizzle of melted brown sugar and butter. It was one of Denmark’s speciality pastries. Taking over as she always did, Helen placed a sleepy Mat in his pram, found his bottle of milk, handed it to him and nodded her approval when the little boy sucked it down while he watched the world out from under the shady roof of the pram. Ollie noticed his heavy eyelids and knew he’d be asleep before he finished his bottle. Mat was a heavy sleeper and could sleep anywhere and through anything. Once he was asleep, she and Helen would have some time to talk.

Their coffees were delivered and they ate most of their pastry; Ollie knew she’d have to go for a run later to work off all those extra calories. Afterwards, Helen leaned back and folded her arms across her ample chest. ‘So, what’s worrying you, darling?’

So much.Bo, leaving Mat—she was far more attached to him than she wanted to be—going back to the UK, her parents and their insistence that she join the firm.

Ollie sighed, picked up her phone and flipped it over then over again. ‘I wasn’t supposed to take this job, did you know that?’

‘Sabine said something about you giving up the nanny’s life and going home to become a career girl.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘A lawyer?’

Ollie sighed. ‘Accountant.’ She picked up her water glass and took a sip. ‘My parents are expecting me to join the family firm in September.’

‘And I can see you are brimming over with enthusiasm to do that,’ Helen replied, sounding sarcastic. ‘Just tell your family that you don’t want to work for them. Sabine mentioned the possibility of you becoming a junior partner in the agency.’ She should be cross about Sabine and Helen discussing her but they were her best friends, her mentors, and they both thought of her as a younger sister. ‘She said something about you buying a small share and then working with her for a couple of years until she retires. Then you could buy out the rest of her shares or she could stay a silent partner.’

‘That’s the dream,’ Ollie said and released a heavy sigh.

‘I want to hear why you’re not jumping at this opportunity, but first a question—wouldn’t you need to live in Paris to run the agency?’

Ollie shook her head. ‘Not necessarily. I can be based anywhere in Europe. With video calling, we can run the business virtually to a large extent. I mean, I would have to go to Paris occasionally, but I wouldn’t have to relocate there.’

‘So, what’s the problem, Ol?’

Ollie looked at her. ‘I know that Sabine offered the same opportunity to you a while back. Why did you turn it down?’

She smiled. ‘Because I want to be involved with the kids, I don’t want to run a business. You know I don’t do this for the money—’ Helen had inherited a bundle from her late husband, a stockbroker ‘—and I like being a part of a family. But also separate.’

Ollie nodded, preparing to explain why joining the agency wasn’t possible.

‘When I graduated, I promised my parents I would return to the business and work for them. I struck that deal.’

Helen wrinkled her nose. ‘And can that deal not be renegotiated?’

Ollie explained her parents’ deeply held beliefs that education was a privilege, not a right. And that they had the right to demand a return on the investment they’d made by paying for her education.

‘But you are not an investment.’

Ollie touched her hand, not wanting her to think badly of her parents. ‘They love me, they do. It’s just one thing we disagree on. And it’d be more than saying I don’t want to do this: it’s about sticking to my word and not trying to move the goalposts because they don’t suit me any more.’

‘The weight of parental expectation can be a heavy load to carry,’ Helen said, her expression serious. ‘Have you told them that you don’t want to be an accountant?’

‘Not in so many words. I guess I don’t want to disappoint them more than I already have.’

‘I’d talk to them if I were you, Ol.’

That was so much easier said than done.

Helen snagged her uneaten quarter ofbrunsvigerand popped a piece into her mouth. ‘So delicious,’ she murmured. ‘So, you are only in Copenhagen for another month or so?’

Ollie was grateful for the change of subject. Thinking about her parents and leaving gave her a headache. ‘Roughly, yes. It’s a stunning place and I’ve loved every minute.’

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