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He noted the shadows on her face, which suddenly seeht how drained she looked His er and self-recri to have to listen to her He needed to hear what she had to say To find out whether what he dreaded was true

Hisher to a nearby coffee shop No Much too public Should he take her upstairs to his office? That et rid of her afterwards than if he took her home And he had no desire to take her hoet that he’d ever met her ‘You’d better come up to my office’

‘Okay,’ she said, her voice sounding brittle

It felt bizarre to ride up in the elevator in silence but he didn’t want to open any kind of discussion in such a confined space, and she seemed to feel the sah the outer office and he looked across at Vasos

‘Hold allthe flicker of surprise in his assistant’s eyes

‘Yes, boss’

Soon they were in his cool suite of offices, which overlooked the city skyline, and he thought how out of place she looked, with her flower-sprigged cotton dress and pale legs And yet despite a face which was al down her back in that thick ponytail—there was still so about her which nition he didn’t understand Even though she looked pasty and had obviously lost weight, part of hiainst that leather couch, which stood in the corner, and to lose himself deep inside her honeyed softness His mouth flattened

‘Sit down,’ he said

‘There’s no need’ She hesitated, like a guest who had turned up at the wrong party and wasn’t quite sure how to explain herself to the host ‘You probably want to knohy I’ve turned up like this—’

‘I know exactly why’ Never had it been more of an ordeal to keep his voice steady, but he knew that psychologically it was better to tell than to be told To re the sudden flare of fear deep in his gut ‘You’re pregnant, aren’t you?’

She swayed She actually swayed—reaching out to grab the edge of his desk And despite his anger, Alek strode across the office and took hold of her shoulders and he could feel his fingers sinking into her soft flesh as he levered her down onto a chair

‘Sit down,’ he repeated