The Moretti Seduction (9 page)

He didn’t want Enzo to experience what he and his brothers had when their house had to be sold and they had to move to
Nono
’s house. That wasn’t acceptable to him.

He knew that meant he had to cool it with Nathalie. He had to treat her the same way he would treat any other woman he’d started an affair with. Sending flowers was okay, but one-of-a-kind nightgowns probably wasn’t the right tone if he wanted to keep this relationship like all of his other affairs.

But it was too late to cancel the sexy negligee he’d ordered to be delivered tomorrow morning. Earlier he’d thought he’d seduce her further over the phone and then send her that sexy nightgown for her to wear the next time she came to Milan. But now…Oh, hell, he wasn’t sure.

He followed Dom to his home, which was only three streets from Marco’s. They’d all purchased homes in the same area of Milan so that they were close to the Moretti Motors corporate offices and each other. They were only eighteen months apart and had always been very close.

There was a Porsche 911 in the driveway and Antonio shook his head as he got out. Only Ian would drive a rival car to Dom’s house.

Luigi, Dom’s butler, let him in and directed him to the den, where Ian and Dom waited for him.

“Dom, you’ve got a big piece of trash in front of your house,” Antonio said as he entered.

“Most people don’t consider a Porsche trash, Tony.”

“I can’t speak to others’ ignorance,” Antonio said.

Ian laughed and stood up to shake his hand. “Good to see you.”

“You as well. So, did you find our leak?” Antonio said.

“I did. I think it’s going to shock you both.”

“Nothing would shock me,” Dom said.

“Not even the fact that the leak is your secretary, Angelina de Luca?”

“What? Are you sure?” Dom asked. He crossed to the bar on one wall and poured two fingers of whiskey into a highball glass and swallowed it in one long draw.

“Positive. She’s been feeding information to ESP Motors. I saw the last drop myself.”

“What the hell?” Dom said.

Antonio was surprised and concerned. “She’s had free rein of our corporate offices. She knows everything.”

“I know that,” Dom said.

“What should we do next?” Ian asked. “I have enough evidence to go to the police. We can have her arrested and press charges.”

“Do you have enough to prove ESP was behind it?” Antonio asked. ESP was the company founded by Nigel Eastburn, Lorenzo Moretti’s biggest rival on and off the racetrack. Both men had started their own car companies after retiring. The launch of the Vallerio model had pushed Lorenzo ahead of Nigel, but in the ’80s when Moretti Motors had started to fail, ESP Motors, named after Nigel and his two partners Geoffrey Saxby and Emmitt Pearson, had moved ahead. And that was why Moretti Motors wanted the roadster to be a success—to take back the pride that they’d lost when ESP had become the name synonymous with roadsters.

“If you give me another week or so, I’ll get the proof. I need to make sure their guy isn’t working independently.”

“Who is it?”

“I believe it’s Barty Eastburn.”

“Nigel’s grandson? That is big. Well, I’d rather take him down than just Angelina.”

“She can’t get off with no punishment,” Antonio said.

“She won’t,” Dom said. The fierceness of his tone made Antonio realize that Dom was furious at Angelina’s betrayal.

She wanted to see Antonio. She was a bit mad at herself that she hadn’t called him back, but after her conversation with her father she’d felt it was important to keep her distance. Now as she waited in the Moretti Motors lobby she knew nothing was more important than seeing Antonio.

As soon as he stepped off the elevator and started walking toward her, she had the insane desire to run to him.

“Good afternoon, Nathalie. Welcome back to Milan,” he said. He welcomed her with a kiss on each cheek.

She turned her head toward him at the last second and her lips brushed his cheek.

“It’s good to be back.”

“Why didn’t you call me,
cara mia?
”

She held her briefcase in one hand and followed him through the hallway to the conference room. “I…I don’t know. I mean I had good reasons at first, but now that I’m here they don’t seem valid.”

“We can discuss that later, over dinner and drinks.”

“Antonio, do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Yes, I do. Did you get the gift I sent?”

“I did. I’m sorry I haven’t thanked you properly.” She’d put the negligee on and slept in it every night since he’d sent it. It was exquisite and since she knew the store where he’d purchased it, she also knew it was one of a kind. She’d been touched that he’d sent her the nightgown, but afraid to call him. Afraid that if she talked to him she’d forget to remain strong on the negotiations.

“You can do so later.”

“Can I?” she asked, refusing to let him get away with bossing her around.

“Yes, you may,” he said, with an unrepentant grin. “I’ve invited Dominic to join us. He has a counteroffer since we are at an impasse.”

Antonio’s words made her realize she needed to put all of her personal thoughts on hold and focus on this meeting. How could she tell Antonio that the Vallerio board wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything less than a deal that was on their terms? She decided to be straightforward.

“I’ll be happy to listen to your proposal, but I’m afraid nothing less than what we’ve asked for will suffice.”

“Is there nothing I can do that would make them change their minds?”

She shook her head. “If you want to back down on your stance, we could move forward.”

“I don’t see that happening.”

“So it’s back to the drawing board,” she said.

“Hear Dom’s presentation. I think it’ll make a huge difference.”

“You know this isn’t just about business,” she said. “Almost everyone on the board is related to my grandfather and he was so angry about what Lorenzo did to Anna.”

“What did he do?” Antonio asked. “Because from what we heard, she left him. Went back to Paris and never returned.”

“He kicked her out, Antonio. He told her she wasn’t the wife he needed to build his dynasty with.”

Antonio looked over at her. “Some men don’t know how to handle themselves with a woman who offers too much temptation.”

“Is that a problem for you?” she asked.

“It never has been, but to be honest you do stay on my mind more than I wish you would.”

“Do I?” she asked. She didn’t want to talk about them, because if she weren’t careful she’d fall for him—harder than she already had. It already was a very real danger because she was ready to go back to her board of directors and do whatever it took to convince them to take this deal.

“
Sì,
you do. Why is that?” he asked. He glanced at the closed boardroom door to the table and she almost blushed when she remembered what had occurred the last time they were alone in this room.

She tipped her head to one side. “Perhaps because you’ve met your match.”

“I think I have,” he said, leaning back against the table in the exact spot where she’d sat when he’d pleasured her. “But then you must have too.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m more than capable of taking whatever you have to dish out.”

He reached for her, his hands on her waist as he drew her closer to him. He spread his legs and less than a second later she was in his arms. Nestled there where she’d secretly wanted to be.

“This is so inappropriate for the business we are conducting.”

“That might be, but I’ve missed you,
amore.
”

She glanced at the closed door and then leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. For a week now she’d gone to sleep with only the remembered feel of his arms around her and his mouth pressed to hers. The reality was so much better than her memories.

She kissed him as if this was the last embrace they’d have. In a way it was. After her talk with her father she’d known that nothing lasting could come of her affair with Antonio. No matter how much she might want something more.

And truly the only way to do that was to let Nathalie meet his parents. His father was as different from Lorenzo as any man could be. Giovanni had filled his life with one passion and that was his wife, Philomena. Antonio knew that once Nathalie met them she’d see that the Moretti men weren’t out to crush the Vallerio family once again.

He wanted to make her see that they were sincere in their offer to put Vallerio back on the lips of car connoisseurs the world over.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked once they were seated in his car.

“Positive. I had the opportunity to meet your father and sister and now I think it’s time you had the same.”

“Aren’t they going to be angry that I haven’t convinced my board to accept all of your terms?”

“No. I doubt they will say anything to you about business. My parents aren’t concerned about that at all.”

“What are they concerned about?”

Antonio thought about that for a moment. “Each other. And that my brothers and I are happy.”

“I can’t imagine that Lorenzo’s son wouldn’t be as passionate about car making as he was.”

“Wait until you see my parents. They have a love that consumes them.”

“I still don’t understand,” she said. “Many men are married and still manage a company.”

“But those men weren’t cursed to be lucky either in love or in business,” Antonio said.

“And your family was?” she asked.

“Indeed. In fact your great-aunt may have fallen victim to the same curse.”

“How do you figure?” she asked.

“Lorenzo broke the heart of a girl he’d left behind in his village to go and seek his fortune, and she cursed him when he didn’t fulfill his promise to her.”

“What promise?”

Antonio glanced away from the road and over at Nathalie. She seemed very interested in his story. And he wanted to share it. Wanted her to understand that there was more to Lorenzo than his callous behavior might have indicated. “The promise to marry her once he had won the Grand Prix championship and started his car company.”

“Promises he didn’t keep?”

“No. Lorenzo needed more time to make his fortune. His parents were poor farmers who never did more than eke out an existence and he wanted better for his children.”

“So he asked her to wait for him, or did he send her home?” Nathalie asked.

“He told her he couldn’t fulfill his promise until he was certain he’d have the future they both wanted. He asked her to wait awhile longer. She returned home to her village and waited.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Marco’s wife, Virginia, is the granddaughter of Cassia, Lorenzo’s first love. She has Cassia’s journal.”

“She cursed your grandfather but your brother married her granddaughter?”

“That makes us sound crazy, I know, but the curse she put on Lorenzo was also put on succeeding generations. When you meet my parents you will see they have a love that is just as successful as Moretti Motors was under
Nono
’s leadership. As successful as it will be now that Marco, Dom and I are running things.”

She gave him a very queer look, then turned away, glancing down at her hands, which were laced together in her lap. “Does that mean your brothers don’t expect to find the love your parents have?”

Antonio tried not to think of love. It wasn’t really something that he’d craved. He had his parents’ love and he had never lacked for feminine company and he had his brothers. What more could a man need?

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Love…romantic love just isn’t something I’ve ever really wanted to have.”

“Why not?”

“Maybe because of how badly
Nono
screwed it up. Virginia’s grandmother cursed him, hated him so much that she wanted to make sure he never felt love again. Your great-aunt hated him so much that she turned Pierre-Henri against him.

“With that kind of a legacy do you think I’d even entertain falling for a woman?”

“But your father isn’t that type of man,” she said.

Antonio had often thought the same thing. But he’d seen Dom crash and burn with a love affair when he was in university and Antonio had realized whether they wanted to believe in a curse or not he and his brothers had inherited
Nono
’s bad mojo when it came to love and women.

“He’s also not the businessman Lorenzo was.”

“I see. Since you are good at business, it follows you’ll be a screwup with women.”

Antonio turned on the long winding driveway that led to his parents’ estate in San Giuliano Milanese. He stopped the car in the circular drive at the front of the house. “I have never been a screw-up with women. You asked about love and that’s an emotion I’ve never really sought out.”

And it had never found him, he thought. Until now. Seeing the disappointment in Nathalie’s eyes, he wanted to be the man who could give her everything she wanted. Including love.

He wanted to be able to make a grand gesture as his father had when he’d walked away from Moretti Motors.

“I guess I understand what you are saying. You haven’t looked for love and it hasn’t found you.”

“Have you?” he asked. The thought of Nathalie loving another man made a red rage fill him. He didn’t want any other man to have any claim on Nathalie. And that very possessiveness bothered him as nothing else ever had.

She shook her head. “I’ve always been too focused on making a name for myself at Vallerio Incorporated.”