The Billionaire's Elusive Lover by Elizabeth Lennox Read Free Book Online

pen poised over the paper she’d been working on. As soon as she heard the loud, “Happy Birthday” song, she gasped in surprise, her face breaking out with a huge grin. At the sight of her daughter and grandson, she was thrilled, standing up to receive her grandson’s enthusiastic hug as he raced into her arms. She was grinning from ear to ear, Jonathan in her arms and tears in her eyes as the song wound its way to the end, Helen holding the cake up to Edna so she could blow out the candle.
     
    The raucous clapping made Edna laugh, shaking her head in excited embarrassment and a fruitless effort to quiet everyone down.
     
    “What did you wish for?” someone from the back called out?
     
    Edna shook her head. “No way. Can’t tell. That ruins the birthday wish,” she said, hugging her grandson closely for a moment. She was beaming with pleasure and obviously thrilled that everyone had taken time out of their busy schedules to acknowledge her birthday. She looked down at the small cake and then at the large group. “How on earth is everyone going to get a slice of that?”
     
    Helen waved that concern aside. “Don’t worry about a thing,” she said. “Just grab a fork from the kitchen and everyone can have a bite. That way, your birthday wish will come true.”
     
    The group gladly joined in and within moments, sterling silver forks were obtained from the executive kitchen and passed around to everyone and then the cake made its way through the group with everyone taking a bite, laughing at the concept and the unprecedented event. Almost everyone was saying how they’d never had a birthday cake at work before and Helen was stunned that anyone could survive with so little workday entertainment.
     
    “What the hell is going on here?” a deep voice said from the back of the room.
     
    Helen looked around and groaned inwardly, immediately identifying the owner’s voice. Alec. How was it possible that the two times she’d snuck in here, he’d come back early from his meetings? Was fate trying to tease her about this man? Edna swore he was regimented to the point of ridiculous levels. What kind of luck was Helen bringing upon this company?
     
    She turned and watched as the whole group instantly tensed. One by one, people walked out of Edna’s office in silence, their head bowed as if they were trying to hide or ignore the temporary happiness that had come their way during working hours. Some dared to nod at Alec but without the return nod, they too bowed their heads and walked faster.
     
    Edna was horrified, Nancy was quickly trying to round Jonathan up, Elisia was patting Edna’s shoulder ineffectually and Helen was simply furious. She had a clear view of Alec while the room cleared out and she glared at him until the employees were all dispersed.
     
    “What are you doing here?” she demanded, hands on hips and facing him full on, obviously ready to do battle.
     
    Alec couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A demolished mess of something he suspected was chocolate had been placed in his hands moments before everyone had dispersed, his secretary looked as if she were about to keel over with fear, two other women and a child were either staring or glaring at him and the woman for which his security team had been searching for seven days was now facing him as if he were the devil and she was his secretary’s savior angel. If he weren’t so furious that she’d escaped his team’s efforts for the past week, he would laugh at the idea that this tiny little woman was standing up to him despite all the things he could do to her and her family.
     
    As it was, his eyes traveled down her figure, draped in a crazy colored outfit that stopped at her mid-thigh, the loose dress made up of every color in the rainbow in some sort of psychedelic pattern. On someone else, the dress would look ridiculous, overwhelming the wearer. But on Helen, it just looked…right he admitted grudgingly.
     
    Her lustrous hair