The Moretti Seduction (2 page)

And now she was sitting in the lion’s den. Back in the one place her grandfather had vowed that no Vallerio would ever stand again. For being her personal hell, the boardroom was quite comfortable. There was a trophy case at the end of the room with all the Formula 1 racing trophies won by the Moretti drivers, including the ones her grandfather had earned.

On another wall hung photos of the Moretti drivers and of their production cars. They were all good-looking men who had an air about them that seemed to say life was one big adventure. Her grandfather, Pierre-Henri, had always taken great pride that the bestselling production car had borne his name. And of course when Lorenzo broke Nathalie’s great-aunt’s heart and caused her to die early of heartbreak, Pierre-Henri had done everything in his power to see that Lorenzo no longer had use of the Vallerio name.

Lorenzo’s son Giovanni had let the rights to the name lapse in the late ’80s and since then Moretti Motors had floundered. But recently under the helm of Dominic, Antonio and Marco the company had resurged and was once again on the verge of taking the car world by storm.

Something that Nathalie was here to make certain they did without involving her family or their name.

She paced around the room, well aware that Antonio was keeping her waiting. Their appointment was supposed to have begun five minutes ago.

One of her pet peeves was tardiness. Disrespect was the only reason Antonio was keeping her waiting and she would make sure he understood that she wasn’t someone to toy with.

“
Ciao,
Signorina Vallerio. I am sorry to have kept you waiting.”

She turned to see Antonio Moretti striding toward her. With dark curly hair and classic Roman features, he was quite striking. But that wasn’t what held her attention. It was the intelligence and humor she saw in his obsidian eyes. This was a man who made her catch her breath—and that wasn’t like her.

She lifted her hand to shake his and then realized that she’d been doing business with Americans for too long. She’d forgotten that Italians always greeted with a kiss on the cheek.

Antonio took her hand and pulled her close. The woodsy scent of his aftershave was intoxicating as he dropped a brief, warm kiss on her cheek. She stood transfixed feeling as if it were her first time in a boardroom.

All because of a handsome face, she thought, disgusted with herself and so very glad that her sister Genevieve wasn’t here to see this.

In Antonio’s eyes she saw a hint that he knew how he’d rattled her. She forced herself to kiss his cheek and totally ignored the fact that the five o’clock shadow on his jaw made her lips tingle.

She stepped back and retrieved her hand. “I only have twenty minutes to talk to you, Signore Moretti.”

“Then I had better talk fast,” he said with a grin.

She fought to keep her face stoic. She could see that he was charming. He wasn’t trying hard; he just seemed unflappable.

She was too. She had spent her entire life being the reliable sister. The one that her father and grandfather could count on. She wasn’t going to be a disappointment to them the way her great-aunt Anna had been when she’d lost Lorenzo’s attention and the family name.

“I don’t really see the point to this meeting. As you know, Moretti Motors has resigned all rights to the Vallerio name when you let that contract lapse. At this time we aren’t inclined to license it to you again.”

“You have not even heard what we are offering.”

“I don’t need to. You have nothing we want,” Nathalie said. But she was interested in hearing what they were offering. Even her father thought that the Morettis must realize that they couldn’t come to the bargaining table without offering substantial compensation. Her father wanted a half share in Moretti Motors. To be honest, Nathalie was confident they’d never go for that and she thought this entire exercise was one big time waster.

But she was here because her father had asked her to try to get this deal on the table. That was the problem with family feuds, she thought. There were never really any winners. No matter what deal she and Antonio negotiated.

“Are you sure about that? Everyone wants something they can’t have,” Antonio said.

“Well, if they can’t have it, then they are just asking for frustration,” Nathalie said.

“
Touché.
But I’m offering you whatever you want.”

“Anything, Signore Moretti?”

“
Sì,
Nathalie. But you are going to have to do something before we can go any further with these negotiations.”

Nathalie liked the way he said her name. The Americans she was used to dealing with didn’t know the right emphasis to place on it the way Antonio did. “What is that?”

“You must stop calling me Signore Moretti. I am Antonio to my business associates and Tony to my intimates.”

“Very well, Antonio.”

He laughed and she found herself smiling. She liked this man and she hadn’t expected to. From reputation she knew he usually won most of his corporate encounters, but then so did she and she’d expected him to be like other men.

She was pleasantly surprised to see that he wasn’t. She had to remember that he was being charming for only one reason. He wanted something from her and he wasn’t planning on taking no for an answer.

Antonio seldom met a woman he couldn’t easily charm, but then he seldom met a woman who blinded him with only her smile. It didn’t matter that there was something about Nathalie that said she saw through him. He tried to keep his eyes on business, but all he could think of was how soft her skin had felt when he’d shaken her hand and kissed her cheek.

He wanted to kiss her lips, to feel that full lush mouth under his. Every time she spoke he felt a little jab as she no doubt intended him to. He’d known from the moment he set up this meeting that negotiations between the Vallerio family and the Moretti family weren’t going to be easy.

All of the research he’d done on Nathalie had helped him form the opinion that this was a woman who wasn’t going to be easily swayed by charm.

Seduction, as Dom had suggested, wouldn’t work either. She was too smart and she watched him carefully, adjusting her plan of action to fit his.

“Have a seat, Nathalie. And we will see if I can’t find something the Vallerio family will take in exchange for letting us use the name that your grandfather made famous.”

Nathalie brushed past him, her scent clean and refreshing, and sat down at the head of the table. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. It was obvious to him that she was used to being in charge.

He was the type of man who didn’t like to let anyone take the lead. But he knew sitting at the head of the table didn’t give one power. Power came from the person who wielded it.

Nathalie too knew that, he suspected. She’d learned it from her grandfather. Pierre-Henri Vallerio was a proud French F1 driver who loved racing, designing cars and, at the end of his life, anything that would upset Lorenzo Moretti—the man who had once been his best friend and his teammate on the F1 circuit for Team Moretti.

“Antonio, we do want something from Moretti Motors,” she said.

“Of course you do,” he said. “I’m here to make sure we both get what we want.”

“
Bien.
Vallerio Incorporated wants half share in all of the profits from Moretti Motors and seventy percent of the profit from the Vallerio production model. We also want the right to change the styling of the Vallerio trademark.”

Antonio shook his head. “I said we’d negotiate, not give away everything my brothers and I have worked to rebuild. What we are offering is a share in the profits from the Vallerio model and a seat on the board for the head of Vallerio Incorporated.”

“Êtes-vous fou?”

“No, I’m not crazy. We think this offer is very generous.”

She shook her head. “Of course you do. You are used to holding all the cards, but in this case, you must realize that you do not. Without the Vallerio name, you cannot release your new production car.”

“Of course we can, Nathalie. We’d just have to rename it, which we are prepared to do if need be,” Antonio said. He wasn’t lying. It was a car that everyone talked about.

And they wanted to recapture the magic that
Nono
had first discovered with Moretti Motors.

“Then I suggest you start redesigning your car. As you know you can’t use the name or any likeness to the original Vallerio Roadster.”

She pushed to her feet and reached for her designer leather briefcase and he knew that this woman wasn’t going to be an easy opponent. And damn if that didn’t excite the hell out of him.

“Nathalie, we are just starting our talks. There is no need to get up from the table yet.”

She shook her head, that beautiful red hair swinging gently around the shoulders of her conservative black Chanel suit that accented her curves. “Are you willing to meet our terms?”

“No, I am not. We can talk about a small share of profits for your company, but it won’t be fifty percent.”

“I’m afraid that our terms aren’t really negotiable,” Nathalie said.

“Then why are you here? You know that we won’t agree to give you that kind of money.”

“You asked for this meeting, Antonio. No one on the board at Vallerio Incorporated cares much for Moretti Motors. They would rather have Grandfather’s name drop into obscurity than license its use to your family.”

Antonio leaned back in the leather chair and thought about Nathalie. He couldn’t keep just turning on the charm and hoping that would crack her composure.

She was smart and willing to stand her ground, so that meant he was going to have to reevaluate how he dealt with her.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked. She rubbed her fingers over her lips and then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Am I staring?”

She tipped her head to the side. “You know you are.”

“Indeed I am. I am looking for a chink in your armor. Trying to figure out what makes you tick,” he said, knowing that honesty was a very powerful tool in the boardroom because so many of his opponents often felt the virtue overrated.

She nibbled on her lower lip. “I don’t have any chinks.”

He threw his head back and laughed at her bravado. Damn, but he liked this woman. If she wasn’t a Vallerio he’d even ask her out, but he knew that his family and hers had bad karma between them. And despite what he’d said to Dom earlier, he didn’t want to take the chance that
Nono
’s bad woman mojo might touch him.

“I like the way you laugh,” she said.

“Really? Why is that?”

“It makes you seem human.”

He wanted to laugh again. “I am human, Nathalie. Do not ever doubt that.”

“Well, your reputation would say otherwise.”

“What does my reputation say about me?”

She leaned forward, bracing her arms on the table. The movement caused her blouse to hang away from her skin and he saw the briefest hint of the curve of her breast. He wondered if he should follow Dom’s advice and seduce Nathalie—not to win the negotiation but because he wanted her.

“Well, the gossip about is that you are cold-blooded when it comes to business.”

“I’ve heard the same thing about you,” he said. And he had. She was known as the Ice Queen, and men that had dealt with Vallerio Incorporated spoke of her in unkind terms, often using words like
bitch.

“That simply isn’t true,” she said.

“Then what is the truth about you?” he asked.

“I just believe that all is fair in love and war,” she said.

“Me too.”

“Well, then we are evenly matched and I’d say let the war begin.”

He was several yards away talking to the chef-owner, Carlo Cracco, which allowed her to study him unabashedly. He had an easy way about him, and she realized the charm that she’d first noticed in the Moretti conference room was a part of him, not something he turned on strictly for women.

“Nathalie?”

She smiled as she stood up to greet an old family friend, Fredrico Marchessi.

“
Buona sera,
Fredrico,” she said, kissing him warmly on the cheek. He had been at the university with her father. “Is Maria with you?”

“I’m afraid not. This is a business trip for me.”

“For me as well,” she said.

“With the Moretti family?”

“
Oui,
Fredrico.”

“Your father is worried about this,” Fredrico said.

Nathalie got annoyed at the way Fredrico talked to her as if she were still twelve. She’d been successfully handling the Vallerio family business for a number of years now.

“Papa knows he can trust me to do what is right by our family.”

“
Bien,
Nathalie. We must have dinner when you are back in Paris.”

“
Bien sur.
I will call your office.”

Fredrico left and she felt a hand on her back as she started to sit back down. Antonio was back at their table.

“Nathalie, allow me to introduce you to Carlo Cracco.”

They exchanged pleasantries and then the chef left and she was alone with Antonio at the intimate table for two.

“I am sorry for leaving you alone.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m not your date.”

“And if you were?”

“Well, then I’d expect you to not leave me alone. A woman deserves to be the center of her man’s attention.”

“What does a man deserve?”

“The same thing.”

“Are you a romantic?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. I just don’t believe in wasting my personal time with someone who’s not worth it.”

He gave her that crooked grin, revealing his straight white teeth. “Another point we agree on.”

She shrugged one shoulder, trying not to acknowledge that Antonio was the kind of man she didn’t believe existed. Someone who could be her equal in the boardroom and out of it. “What did your chef friend recommend for dinner?”

“I’ve never been disappointed with anything I’ve ordered here. My favorite dish is salt-crusted sole and dark chocolate crochettes with caviar.”

She pretended to study the menu. This meeting was supposed to be about the Vallerio family. She had to concentrate and keep reminding herself that her family had been waiting for this moment for a long time. No matter how much she enjoyed the novelty of Antonio Moretti.

He was just that. A novelty. This was nothing more than a chance for her grandfather to even the score with Lorenzo Moretti, even though the latter was long gone from this world. Her grandfather wouldn’t have a moment’s peace until he knew that he’d been able to retrieve the honor that Lorenzo had swindled him out of.

“You look very serious,
mia cara.
Would it be so bad to let me recommend a dish for you?” He named two selections.

She looked up at him. “I see you are the type of man who will exploit any sign of weakness in your opponent.”

“I thought we were beyond pointless shows of power.”

Was that what he thought this was? She was always aware that she was a woman in a man’s world and that she couldn’t for a minute appear weak. She never cried, she didn’t chat or laugh with the other women in the office and she certainly didn’t let a man order for her at a business dinner. That was too feminine, too girly, and she knew a man’s man like Antonio Moretti would see it as a sign of weakness.

“Thanks for the recommendations. I’ll consider them.”

He laughed. “You do that.”

The wine steward arrived and Nathalie again felt the pressure of their roles. The steward automatically talked to Antonio about the wine selection, and even though he selected the exact vintage she would have chosen, she spoke up and picked something different.

Meals and drinks ordered, she sat back at the table and took control of this evening. “Tell me more about the Moretti Motors plans for the Vallerio model.”

“I can only share so much information with you before we hammer out an arrangement. As I am sure you can understand, it’s privileged.”

“Of course. Tell me why we should even consider doing business with the Moretti family again. The last time we did my beloved great-aunt Anna was destroyed by her dealings with your grandfather and my own grandfather was swindled out of his share of the profits.”

The feud between their families had at its heart the emotions of a young bride. Decades ago her
tante
Anna had married her brother’s best friend—Lorenzo Moretti—and then found herself ignored and very unhappy. Lorenzo was a womanizer and Anna spent three miserable years married to him before she left him, something that Lorenzo didn’t even realize for another six months. It was that treatment of Anna that had started the feud. When Anna divorced Lorenzo, something that left her ostracized from her devoutly Catholic community in Paris, Lorenzo had terminated production of the Vallerio Roadster, saying that he wouldn’t share profits with a family that had betrayed him.

He felt Anna should have sucked up her hurt feelings and stayed with him.

“You make us sound like the Machiavellis. I assure you we aren’t.”

“Assurances are okay, Antonio, but I’d rather have some facts that I can take back to my board of directors.”

“How about the fact that Vallerio Incorporated hasn’t had a new innovation in the car world in over twenty years?”

“We know what our history is,” she said. “We aren’t in the automobile world anymore.”

“Which is why you are here with me. The Vallerio-Moretti collaboration went all wrong last time. Our generation will be the ones to put both of our family names back into the limelight and give them the place in history they deserve.”