CEO's Expectant Secretary(9)
Even though she’d slept for over five hours, she still felt exhausted. She couldn’t fight her weariness and Brock at the same time. “Okay, but I’m leaving in the morning.”
His gaze flickered with something indiscernible and she wished she could read him. She knew he could be a dangerous man.
“You’re wise to give yourself a break, Elle. Let me walk you back to your room.”
With his hand at her waist, she couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. It was temporary, the same way their relationship had been. Still, he’d been a respite for her as she had been for him. It was a shame the whole thing had blown up in their faces, but she’d always known there’d never been any other possible ending for their relationship.
Brock opened the door to the blue bedroom. “Anna refilled your water. Call if you need anything. Sweet sleep,” he said and brushed his lips over her forehead.
Elle awakened the following morning when a sliver of the sun peeked through the curtains in the room. She savored the perfect cushiony firmness of the mattress and the cuddly cotton sheets. Even the pillow offered her head the perfect elevation. She sighed in contentment, inhaling the faintest whiff of eucalyptus and lavender.
Easing into consciousness, she thought about her mother. She should check on her. Three seconds passed and she thought of her grandfather. Frowning, she opened her eyes and realization hit her. She needed to check on him, too.
Sitting up, she remembered she was in Brock’s Nob Hill home, and she definitely should be leaving. Sliding from the bed, she felt the padded carpet beneath her feet and rushed to the bathroom to shower and get on her way. By the end of bathing, though, she was fighting nausea.
Crap.
Taking deep, even breaths, she pulled on her clothes and walked down the hallway. She followed the sound of voices and found two people talking in the kitchen. “Good morning,” she said.
Anna and a man she hadn’t met yet turned to look at her. “Miss Linton?” Anna said. “May I get you some breakfast? Eggs, potatoes, bacon?”
Elle felt another roll of nausea. “Herbal tea and toast, please. Can you tell me where Mr. Maddox is?”
The woman smiled. “The sunroom. He likes to read the paper there in the morning when he’s here,” she said. “Would you like me to bring your toast and tea into the sunroom?”
“Yes, thank you very much,” she replied.
As Anna had said, Brock sat in a chair in the sunroom, reading a newspaper. She felt a sudden attack of shyness. She’d stayed over at Brock’s apartment at the company several times, but he’d never brought her here. Seeing him in the home he’d grown up in pointed out the differences between them. He was wealthy—and legitimate. She wasn’t.
Silly, she told herself. She just needed to go home. “Brock,” she said.
He immediately turned around and looked at her with those blazing blue eyes. “Good morning. Did you rest well?”
“Yes,” she said. “I should go back home.”
“How’s your stomach feeling?” he asked.
“It’s felt worse,” she hedged.
“How’s the morning sickness?”
She swallowed. “I’ll be okay.”
“Why don’t you sit down and stop pushing yourself?”
“I have things to do,” she said.
He pulled a sheet of paper from the table and handed it to her. “Here. Maybe this will help you take a break.”
She glanced at the press release. It announced the engagement and subsequent wedding of Elle Linton and Brock Maddox.
Elle sank into a chair. “You haven’t sent this out, have you?”
“It went out last night,” he said.
She sucked in a deep breath and fought light-headedness. “Why?”
His gaze met hers. “You know it’s the right thing. Do you really want to raise an illegitimate child? Doesn’t your child deserve more?”
She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply, her heart torn. “We’re not marrying for the right reasons.”
“What could be a better reason than our child?” He frowned. “You look pale. Do you need water?”
She shook her head. “I feel sick,” she said and raced for the bathroom by her room.
After her stomach calmed down, Elle wiped her face with a cool washcloth and brushed her teeth. Then she sank into a chair in the blue bedroom where she’d slept last night. She was trying to calm down but her mind was racing. Marriage to Brock Maddox? She shook her head at the possibility. At the same time she wondered how she could get out of it now that he’d released the news to the press. What choice did she have?
Hearing a tap at the door, she felt her heart race.