Читать книгу The Greek Tycoon's Baby - Линн Грэхем, LYNNE GRAHAM - Страница 7

SUSIE peered at her still-swollen eyes in the vanity mirror and suppressed a groan. She had not slept the night before.

A plaintive cry sent her whirling round. Across the room, her baby son was clutching his crib bars in frustration. His toy keys had fallen to the carpet. As she restored the ring to his tiny grasping hand, she smiled as his cross little face cleared like magic.

Ben was six months old. He had silky dark curls, huge melting brown eyes and dimples. His features were still rounded and indistinct but he already bore a marked resemblance to his father in hair, skin, and eye colour, Susie conceded wretchedly.

And there was no denying that she was wretched. Only yesterday, Leos had looked at her with icy hostility. His attitude had really hurt. But then, she and Leos had not parted the best of friends and the pain of that cruel severance remained, biting deepest whenever she looked at the son she adored.

Coping as a single parent had not been easy. Her brother David, who worked abroad, allowed her to live rent-free in his apartment. Without his generosity, she would have been forced to live on welfare. Having Ben cared for in the Devlin Systems day care swallowed half of her salary. What was left over would not stretch to paying a London rent and living expenses as well.

On the bus to work, Susie thought back uneasily to Jayne’s reaction to what she had witnessed.

“Well, you’ve certainly been a dark horse,” Jayne had sniped. “Why didn’t you say that you actually knew Leos Kiriakos?”

So Susie had told part of the truth but not the whole. Although she had a business degree, she’d been working as an office temp when she first met Leos Kiriakos. While he was over on London on business, flu had laid low two of his personal staff. Susie had arrived at his hotel suite, proud to have got the opportunity but secretly quaking in her shoes. She had fallen in love at first sight of his breathtaking smile. In a split second, he had gone from being the intimidating and powerful Greek tycoon, whom she wanted to impress with her efficiency, to being simply the man of her dreams.

When Leos had asked her out to dinner, she had been overjoyed. Six weeks of ecstatic happiness followed before everything began to go wrong …

Susie hurried into the Devlin Systems building and left Ben in the ground floor nursery. As always, leaving him was a wrench. And like every other employee using the excellent childcare facility, she was anxiously wondering whether Leos Kiriakos would keep such a staff luxury.

When she arrived at reception, Jayne pushed a sheet of paper toward her. “Looks like you’re on the way up …”

Susie frowned. “What’s this?”

“Personnel sent it down. You have an interview with Leos Kiriakos tomorrow afternoon.” Jayne’s envy was unconcealed. “You must have made quite an impression the last time you worked for him …”