In Bed With Her Shithead Boss (By Ellie Wynters) novel Chapter 321

Keira woke to sunlight streaming through the room. She blinked slowly, memories of the night before flooding back from Alexei's proposal on the terrace, and the multiple times they'd made love, her body was sore in all the right places.

Stretching, she reached across the bed only to find cool sheets where Alexei should have been. A note rested on his pillow, his handwriting recognizable.

"My Love,

You needed your sleep. Please don't rush this morning. I have some business to attend to. See you when I return to the palace.

Love you, Lex"

Keira flopped back on the bed, smiling at the simple message. “Love you.” Such small words, but they do so much and meant a lot to her.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand where it had been charging overnight and checked the time… nearly ten in the morning. She'd slept far later than usual.

Her smile faded as she noticed a flood of notifications. Several messages from Blair and Sutton asking her in so many words if she was ok. Keira frowned, puzzled by their concerned texts. She should have called them after the real engagement, but something about the almost frantic wording of their messages worried her.

It wasn't until she opened another message from an old school friend that she realized why.

"OMG Keira, are you really engaged to Prince Alexei?! The media is having a field day with this! Not all of it is pretty."

With growing dread, Keira opened her news app and froze. Her name was splashed across headlines everywhere, accompanied by unflattering photos and speculation about her relationship with Alexei.

The first headline across Keira's screen made her stomach drop. "ROYAL ROMANCE OR CALCULATED CLIMB? Warner Heiress Snags Second-in-Line Prince!" Another shouted, "FROM ASSISTANT TO PRINCESS: The Warner Girl Who Trapped a Prince."

She scrolled through more notifications, each worse than the last. One particularly vicious tabloid ran with "KIDNAPPED HIS HEART? Inside Sources Question Convenient Timing" accompanied by an unflattering candid shot of her looking disheveled outside her apartment.

Some comments were particularly nasty: "Another commoner clawing her way into royalty," wrote one royal watcher. "This one's not even trying to hide her gold-digging ways."

"Just discovered what it's like to be every tabloid’s latest hot topic," Keira replied, gesturing to her phone.

Elena placed the tray down with sympathy in her eyes. "His Majesty worried you might see the coverage. He asked me to remind you that the palace PR team is preparing a calendar for the next few days. Get you out and about with the people. He already enlisted Amelia's help with it."

"Great," Keira said flatly. "More people managing my life."

"If I may," Elena offered, "this initial wave is always the worst. Once the official engagement photos are released and you do some charity work things will change."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No," Elena admitted. "But Prince Alexei has been in meetings with the communications team all morning. He's quite... determined about how your story is presented. He doesn't want this."