The Moretti Seduction (3 page)

He knew the key to getting the Vallerio team to sign the deal was to break down the monster that his
nono
had become to them. And this square was the very place to do that.

“Why did you bring me here?” Nathalie asked. She seemed a little tired and a little leery.

He hoped to use that to his advantage. “I wanted you to understand why history is so important to us at Moretti Motors.

“I know that the Vallerio family harbors some bad feelings toward the Moretti family, but I believe that that stems simply from misunderstanding the man that my grandfather was.”

Nathalie tipped her head to the side. Her red-gold hair swung against her shoulder and distracted him, made him want to touch the cool silky waves.

“Your grandfather may have had another side, but I doubt he showed it to anyone outside of the Moretti clan.”

“Then let me tell you about him now.”

Nathalie sighed. “Do you really believe this will make a difference?”

Antonio looked at her standing there in the moonlight and knew that even if it didn’t he wanted to tell her about his family. He wanted to change the image she had in her head of the Morettis as the big bad guys. “When I was a boy I’d come to Milan to visit my
nono,
he’d bring me here to church every morning. He never missed a day.”

“My
grandpere
was the same way. He said it was because God had blessed him on the racetrack,” Nathalie said.

Antonio smiled to himself.
Nono
had told him how Pierre-Henri had been a devout man. It was one of the few positive things that
Nono
had ever mentioned about Pierre-Henri. Lorenzo Moretti had known from an early age that the Lord watched over him each time he got in his race car and attempted things no other man had ever done.

“See? We already have something in common.”

She arched one eyebrow at him. “Really? That’s the connection you are going to make?”

“In this battle, with the stakes being what they are, I’ll start as small as I have to.”

“Why do you want this so bad? As you said, Moretti Motors can rename the car.”

“Because Moretti Motors’ Vallerio Roadster is revered by car collectors all over the world. The demand for this model, the styling and racing lines that Lorenzo designed along with Pierre-Henri’s engine design are legendary.”

“So you do need us?” she asked.

“Maybe.”

Antonio took Nathalie’s hand and drew her closer to the cathedral. “Did you know that Duomo here has never really been completed?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know that much about this church.”

“I won’t tell you the history, only that she is constantly being updated and added to. The church itself is never going to be finished because there is always some way to improve on its beauty, to improve on its function.

“It is the same for Moretti Motors. We are not content to sit around and think that we have accomplished one thing and that is enough. We must constantly change, constantly drive forward into the future. What we are offering you, Nathalie, and the entire Vallerio family and its investors is a chance to be a part of our drive to the future.”

Nathalie drew her hand free of his. “You are a smooth talker, you know that, right?”

“Sì,”
he said with a smile. “I think you like that about me.”

“I like a lot about you, Antonio. But that doesn’t mean that I think doing business with your company would be in our best interests.”

“Why not?” he asked.

She walked around the entrance to the cathedral. The statues that guarded it looked down upon them. This cathedral was one of the most famous in the world, the second largest to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome itself. Every Catholic in Milan was proud that this was their house of worship, and Antonio offered a quick prayer that God would make this moment a turning point for him and Moretti Motors.

“
Grandpere
used to say that Lorenzo was a smooth-tongued devil who had a way of seducing even the staunchest rival,” she said. “And I can see now what he meant. I think you inherited Lorenzo’s charm.”

“You should meet my father.”

“I guess all of the Moretti men have that gift. Do you know what we Vallerios have?”

“A gift for speed and a quest for knowledge,” he said. The legacy of Pierre-Henri wasn’t one that he took lightly. That was one of the main reasons why he, Marco and Dominic had decided to go this route. They could have taken an easier path with relaunching their production car, but the only car they wanted to relaunch was the Vallerio.

“We also have a way of seeing through the smoke and mirrors to the truth behind them,” she said.

“Keep looking, Nathalie. There is nothing but truth and sincerity here. At Moretti Motors we want both of our companies to grow and prosper. We want both of our names to be remembered by history.”

“You paint a pretty picture, Antonio, almost as pretty as this Gothic cathedral you’ve brought me to see, but I know that inside the walls of this place and behind the beauty of your offer lie more secrets.”

“In the church perhaps, but I have laid all my cards on the boardroom table.”

“Somehow I doubt that. It would leave you with nothing new to negotiate with.”

He laughed at that. “Well, maybe I’ve kept one or two back.”

“I have too. I’m not going to change my position tonight. To be honest I doubt we will ever be able to reach an agreement. There is too much bad blood between our families.”

“But not between us. That was two stubborn old men who liked to argue. We are two young, vibrant people who know that there is more to life than fighting,” Antonio said.

“Do we?”

“Yes, Nathalie, we do,” he said, and drew her into his arms. “The night is young and so are we. Let’s make the most of it.”

Her
grandpere
had been a brusque man by the time she’d gotten to know him, and a part of her was saddened by that. And she knew that the Moretti family—especially Lorenzo Moretti—was responsible for his bitterness.

But right now, as Antonio walked her to her room, that didn’t seem to matter.

She knew starting an affair with Antonio Moretti was about the dumbest thing she could do. But she was so tempted.

They stood right outside her suite and though she had the feeling it would be unwise, she wanted to invite him in for a nightcap.

Antonio broke into her thoughts. “You are looking at me like I have something you want.”

“You do.”

“Name it and it is yours.”

She tipped her head to the side. “Did you mean it when you said that all’s fair in love and war?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You aren’t going to renege on that?”

“No, I’m not. Are you?”

“No. But I’ve found that men get mad when they don’t win, regardless of what they’ve said before everything got going.”

“I think you are trying to ask me if I’m going to act like a baby if I don’t get my way. You should know that I am a man…not a boy.”

She smiled at the way he said it. She knew Antonio was trying to seduce her. He wanted her to get to know the man behind the corporation and it was in her interest to do the same. Let him get to know the woman she was. Without that she’d never get the advantage over him.

“So,
bella mia,
are you going to tell me what you want?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“I think being mysterious has some benefits,” she said.

“Indeed it does in a woman as beautiful as you.”

She suspected that comment was at least seventy-five percent bullshit, but…“It’s hard to resist such charm.”

He laughed again, his deep, melodious tones wrapping around her in a dangerous way. She knew she needed to get rid of Antonio. She wasn’t going to invite him in tonight, not after an evening of a full moon shining down over the city as she listened to him weave his tales of the past in that deeply erotic voice of his. Tonight she wasn’t up to sparring with him.

Her plan was to let him think
he
seduced
her
and she wasn’t sure yet if she could sleep with this man and keep her emotions at bay.

To be honest she’d never been able to do that.

“Good night, Antonio.”

“I will see you first thing in the morning for a tour of the Moretti Motors facility.”

“I’m not sure—”

“You already agreed to it,” he said. “It will do you good to meet the people who have worked on the design of the Vallerio model. I think you should see the pride that our workers take in being part of that legendary car.”

“I think you should stop referring to the car as the Vallerio.”

“Of course. It’s just that I feel that once you see this car you will change your mind.”

His passion for the car and for the company was obvious and it made her realize she’d made the right choice in not inviting him into her room. She had to understand that with Antonio the company was always going to come first.

And Nathalie had a personal vow about men who were workaholics. She’d never get mixed up with one. Her father, uncles and grandfather all had been workaholics—and had been absent in the lives of their children and wives, something that Nathalie didn’t want for her own life.

Not that she was thinking of having kids with Antonio. It was just that getting involved with a man when you knew you were destined to be second in his life was not a smart thing to do.

And she was a smart woman.

She met Antonio’s gaze and nodded. “I like your confidence. Tomorrow we will see if you are simply bragging or if you have the goods.”

He arched one eyebrow at her. “
Cara mia,
do I look like a man who doesn’t have the goods?”

She shook her head. “I refuse to answer that on the grounds that no matter what answer I give you, you will take it as a positive.”

Antonio shrugged his big shoulders. “I’m used to making everything into a positive. That is why Moretti Motors is where it is today.”

“I’d heard that about you. That you never take no for an answer. Much like Lorenzo Moretti when he ran right over Anna Vallerio.”

“That is very true about my not taking no for an answer. But I promise you, Nathalie, I’m not going to run over you or your family. This generation of Moretti Motors is committed to doing business differently.”

He walked away on that note and she watched him leave. She wanted to believe his words, but at the end of the day Antonio was still a Moretti. And he was going to put those interests before her or her family.

“How’d the meeting with Ms. Vallerio go?”

Dom wasn’t one of those guys who wasted time on small talk. There had been a leak in their office over the last year and though they had gotten closer to the snitch, they still hadn’t found him. Something that Antonio knew annoyed Dom to no end.

“Fine.”

“I’d say better than fine. Genaro said that you were upstairs with her for more than thirty minutes.”

“Gee, Dom, I hope that you don’t think I seduced her in thirty minutes.”

“Well…it is a little quick, but I figured you might have your mind on other things.”

“No wonder your relationships don’t last longer than a tank of gas. Women want to be seduced by a man. They want a man who will linger and act interested in them.”

“Which is neither here nor there. What did she say?” Dom asked.

Antonio activated the hands-free option that was built into his GPS.

“Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Dom said. “What happened?”

“We talked. The Vallerio family isn’t going to be easy. Are you sure we need his name?”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Dom said.

“I just wanted to make sure. The negotiations are going to be long and hard on this one, and right now we don’t need that.”

That was an understatement. Not only was the production date breathing down their necks, but they still hadn’t identified the leak in their office.

As if he read his mind, Dom said, “I am close to figuring out the leak. I have set some things in motion now that will take care of it.”

“What things?” Antonio asked.

“More proprietary information given only to two people. I’ve almost narrowed it down. If I’m right about who it is, it’s going to be someone close to us.”

“Whom do you suspect?” Antonio asked, not even thinking about the Vallerio business for a minute. Corporate espionage was a big deal and the leaks they had lately were enough to seriously cripple Moretti Motors.

“I’d rather not say at this moment. I’ll take care of the leak. You just do what you need to with Vallerio. So, if you didn’t seduce the girl, what’s your plan?”

Antonio had turned onto the street where he lived. He had a nice place with assigned parking on the street. There were times when he wished he had the space his parents did in their palatial house outside of the city limits, but he liked city living.

He switched his phone back to the handset and got out of the car. His street was quiet this late at night.

“My plan is the same as it always is. Find her weakness and then use it to our advantage,” Antonio said. Though for the first time he was torn. He really did believe that all was fair in love and war, but this time he didn’t know that he wanted to exploit the weaknesses he found in Nathalie. He would, he knew, but this time he might regret it.

“Her weakness or Vallerio’s?” Dom asked.

“Aren’t they the same?” Antonio asked.

“In most cases I’d say yes, but if you are going to seduce the girl, then I imagine your thinking could get muddled.”

“I have to remember that. There is no gray area here.”

“Don’t let Nathalie get her hooks in you. I don’t think
Nono’s
legacy is going to withstand two of us falling in love.”

“So you don’t believe that Marco and Virginia have broken the curse?” Antonio asked. He had read the words of Cassia Festa’s curse in the journal that Virginia had. He thought about the curse he’d read.