It wasn’t that he was an egomaniac, it was simply that he liked all the fuss. And now, in Monte Carlo, it was even better, because when he left this press event he’d be going back to his villa where Virginia was waiting for him. It was as if he’d finally found what he’d been looking for, a surcease from the manic lifestyle he’d been living to try to prove to himself that he had a life.
“What’s your hurry?” Keke asked as Marco tried to sneak out the back door of a party sponsored by Moretti Motors.
“I’m not in a hurry,” Marco said.
“Yes, you are. It has been this way since you hooked up with Virginia in Spain. I’m engaged to Elena, and I’m not as desperate to get back to my woman as you are.”
“I’m not desperate, Keke.”
“I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I think it’s good that you have something other than Moretti Motors to fill your life.”
“I’ve always had more than the company. I’m known the world over for my party lifestyle.”
“I am, too—that’s why I know how empty it is. There’s a difference between filling time and actually having someone to spend it with. Someone who means something.”
“Keke, when did you get to be a philosopher?”
“I know that I’m not a smart man, but having Elena in my life made me realize what I’d been missing.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Marco asked.
“Seeing you with your Virginia reminds me of me and Elena.” Keke shrugged. “I’m starting to think there’s more to life than racing…like maybe it’s time for me to retire and settle down.”
Marco looked at his old friend. He and Keke had been teammates for the last five years. Keke was older than Marco, and maybe it was those four years age difference that had Keke talking like he was, but there was a sincerity in Keke’s voice that made Marco hesitate.
“I’m not retiring, and Virginia is just a girl.”
Keke raised both eyebrows at him. “Whatever you say, man.”
Elena interrupted them before Marco could comment, and then he watched as his friends walked away from him. Was he desperate for Virginia’s company? Was that why he hadn’t sent her away immediately, as soon as she’d started going on about breaking the curse?
A part of him knew it was because he’d never fully believed in the curse. What he did believe was simpler. He wanted Virginia, and the contract gave him a safe reason to be with her. He didn’t have to worry about marriage or expectations of love from Virginia. But her having his child was huge. Having a legal agreement seemed to make things simpler—unless he was just fooling himself.
He made his way to the waiting Moretti Motors convertible that he’d left in the drivers’ parking lot. He liked the city of Monaco. He’d grown up coming here every year to watch the races with his grandfather. The Grand Prix de Monaco was one of the most famous.
Even the car he was driving had been his grandfather’s. He’d always felt a special connection to Nonno Lorenzo, one that his brothers hadn’t shared. Nonno had said it was because they both had a passion for speed. And Marco had to agree. But now, staring down at his grandfather’s car, he wondered if there was more to him than racing. Was there more to the man he’d become than what he was—the face of Moretti Motors?
Did he really need there to be?
He ran his hand over the hood of the car, feeling the power and the miles that the car had traversed. There was a bond between man and car. It was something that he’d never really talked about, but this old car of Nonno’s had always been like an extension of himself.
“Ciao, fratello,” Dominic said as he came up behind him.
“Ciao, Dom. What’s up?”
“Antonio and I need to see you tonight. We strongly suspect that we have a corporate spy.”
Since Dom had been worried about a leak when they’d spoken in Melbourne, Marco wasn’t surprised by this news. “I’m seldom at the office, Dom. I doubt that I know the spy.”
Dominic pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head. “The leak could be anyone. And I want both you and Tony to go over the information that has been leaked to see if either of you have insight into how it is getting out. You know our F1 program better than anyone. And I hesitate to mention this, but…we hardly know Virginia, and she’s been living with you.”
Marco narrowed his eyes and thought about the freedom he’d given Virginia at all of his homes. Right now she was alone at their family villa on the outskirts of Monte Carlo. And while Marco himself didn’t go to the corporate offices, Dominic’s office faxed him a daily report to keep him apprised of the progress on the new Vallerio production car.
“Do you believe that Virginia is responsible for this? The first leak happened before we even met.”
“We need to rule out the possibility of her involvement. Someone may have used her as pawn. What do you think?”
Marco had no real evidence, but his gut said that Virginia wasn’t interested in anything other than his sperm. She’d been up front and honest about everything since the night she came clean. “I will ask her.”
“Do you think that’s best?”
“Yes. She will not lie to me.”
“Be careful, Marco, I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“By a woman?”
“Her grandmother is the one who cursed our family,” Dominic said.
Dominic had a point, but then his oldest brother often did. “Arrivederci, Dominic.”
“We will have dinner tonight at nine at the villa. Will we see both you and Virginia?”
“Yes. And by then I’ll know if she’s the spy.”
Marco got into the Moretti sports car that had been his grandfather’s. He really hated to think how similar he and Lorenzo were in many things. He was determined that they wouldn’t both let the distraction of a Festa woman ruin their lives.
Virginia sat down on a stone bench and breathed deeply. She loved the gardens at the Moretti family villa in Monte Carlo. It had been only two weeks since everything had come out—since she’d told Marco what she wanted from him. She spent a lot of time in the huge, fragrant garden courtyard in the center of the villa. Every room in the villa opened into the courtyard. The second-floor rooms had balconies, too, and she had enjoyed sitting on theirs in the quiet by herself while Marco went to the track to do his qualifying.
Since she wasn’t a race fan, she didn’t mind not being at the track, but she was starting to desperately need to be in Marco’s company, and that wasn’t good. She had to remember that this relationship was temporary, and that once she was pregnant it was going to be “ciao, baby.”
“I thought I’d find you here,” Marco said. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her close. He nuzzled his head next to hers and dropped a kiss on her neck. “What are you doing out here all alone?”
“Enjoying the garden. It’s so pretty and peaceful.”
“And that’s what you need? Is my lifestyle too intense for you?” he asked.
She started to say no, she didn’t mind it at all. But since there was no future between them and she needed to keep her emotional distance from Marco, she held her tongue. This wasn’t really a relationship, no matter how much it might feel like one when his arms were wrapped around her.
“Yes, it is. I don’t really like all the attention you get. It’s tiring to have to keep smiling all the time.”
Marco tipped her head back and kissed her. The beginning twinges of desire raced through her body. She turned in his arms and lifted hers around his shoulders.
His tongue thrust past the barrier of her teeth and tasted her deeply, and she realized that this was what she’d been waiting for.
How could she miss one man as much as she missed him when he was gone?
When he lifted his head a few minutes later, Marco said, “The attention will wan once the season is over.”
At first she had no idea what he was talking about. She wanted to take his hand and lead him to the qu
iet corner of the garden where there was a marble bench and enough privacy to allow them to make love.
“What?”
He smiled down at her. “What are you thinking about?”
“Making love to you.”
“Truly?”
“Yes,” she said. All she’d thought about while he was gone, was that the physical was all she really had of Marco and all she could ever really claim of him. And with that thought had come the creeping idea that maybe, if she played her cards right, the desire between them could spark into something else. Something lasting. And then she wouldn’t be alone anymore.
She ran her hands down the front of his chest, lightly scraping her fingers over the fine, Italian Merino summer wool sweater he wore. He caught her hand and drew it lower until it was over his zipper. She cupped his lengthening erection in her hand and rose, going on tiptoe to kiss first his jaw and then his earlobe.
“We have a dinner date,” Marco said.
“With whom?”
“My brothers,” he said, drawing her hand away from his body. “We need to talk, Virginia.”
“Now?” she asked, not ready for a serious conversation.
“Unfortunately, yes, we need to talk now. Then we can get back to you seducing me.”
She flushed and smiled at him. “What do we need to talk about?”
He led her into the formal living room. “Can I get you a drink?”
She raised both eyebrows at him. “Am I going to need one?”
He shrugged in that European way of his. She was coming to know that Marco gave away very little of himself. And that made her feel always at a disadvantage. “I’ll just have Pellegrino with a twist of lime.”
“Have a seat, I’ll get our drinks.”
She sat down and then realized that she was being a little too biddable. But she really had no choice. She hadn’t had a choice for most of her life, and all of sudden that seemed to boil up inside of her. How long was she going to let the actions of others dictate her life?
She stood up, ready to take action. “What is this about, Marco?”
He turned with both of their drinks in his hands. “Sit down and we’ll talk.”
“I feel like you’re calling me on the carpet,” she said. He reached her side and handed her the sparkling water.
She took a sip and tried to marshal her thoughts. But Marco was close to her, and the only thing she wanted was to have peace between them. For the attraction between them to continue to grow.…
Oh, no! she thought. She was falling in love with Marco Moretti. And to him she was nothing more than a summer mistress. A woman who’d signed a contract to have sex with him until she was pregnant.
“Virginia—stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Whatever it is you’re thinking.”
“I just want to know what is going on. Why do you need to talk to me?”
“There has been a leak at Moretti Motors. Proprietary information has shown up in our competitor’s offices, and we need to find out how.”
She was surprised by the topic. His company had nothing to do with her. “What does this have to do with me?”
“The information started showing up approximately three weeks ago,” Marco said, tipping back his Scotch and draining it in one long gulp.
“Again I say, what does this have—” She put her drinking glass on the table as she connected the dots. “You think I’m the spy?”
“Are you?”
Eight
Marco watched Virginia for some kind of reaction. At first she seemed to cave in on herself, and then he saw anger. But anger didn’t necessarily mean innocence. Yet in this case, he had the feeling that Virginia was innocent.
For one thing, she’d shown very little interest in Moretti Motors, although that could have been her plan.
“Are you going to answer me?” he asked, walking to the wet bar to pour himself another two fingers of Scotch.
“Do I really have to? I mean, are you serious that you think I’m giving information to another company?”
“I am serious,” he said, turning back to face her. He’d never really trusted any woman. Maybe that was why his relationships were all short-term. He’d always put it down to the time he spent on the track.
“I don’t know anything about your business, and I don’t really care about it. This obsession you Moretti men have with Moretti Motors is detrimental to your lives. I think that Nonna had a point when she cursed your nonno.”
Marco had no idea where she was going with that line of thinking, though to be honest he wondered if there wasn’t a hollowness in being so obsessed with the company. His parents had never cared that Moretti Motors wasn’t the leader in automotive design under his father’s tenure, and they were insanely happy together.
“So my family deserves to be cursed.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said.
“What did you mean?”
“Just that Moretti men seem to think the world revolves around their car company.”
“Don’t paint my brothers with the same brush as you paint me. You don’t even know them.”
“From things you’ve said, it’s pretty clear that the company is all you guys think of. There is more to life than being the best automotive company in Italy.”
“We are the best in the world.”
She raised her hands and turned away from him. He thought about pushing this argument until she got fed up and walked away entirely. He didn’t need the distraction that she presented. He didn’t need this vulnerability he’d discovered in caring for her.
Damn. When had that happened? He hadn’t meant for Virginia to mean any more to him than any woman in his entire adult life had meant. But somehow, she did.
That was why her answer to his question was so important to him. He wanted to be able to trust her.
“Just answer the question, Virginia. Did you pass anyone information on our new Vallerio production car?”
“What is that?”
“A new luxury production car that is the fastest in the world and also one of the most expensive. We are launching the car later this year…but you already know that, don’t you?”
She crossed over to him and stopped less than a foot away, putting her hands on her hips. “No, I don’t. I don’t even know who your competitors are.”
“Has anyone approached you and asked about the Vallerio car?”
“No. How would I pass information, anyway?”
“You’d take it from my home computer or from the faxes that I get from the head office and then copy it and take it to your contact.”
“You’ve obviously given this a lot of thought. Why would I do this?” she asked.
“The information is worth a lot of money,” Marco said. He wanted to make very sure that Virginia understood where he was coming from.
“I don’t need money, Marco.”
She was really ticked off and he didn’t blame her. “I didn’t miss it. But Americans are obsessed with money.”
“The same way that Morettis are obsessed with Moretti Motors. That’s a path to emptiness, Marco, and I for one am not interested in an empty life. Have you learned nothing about me in the weeks we’ve been living together?”
He reached out and snagged her wrist, drawing her into his arms. She squirmed, trying to push away. “I’m still mad at you.”
“I know,” he said. But seeing the passion and anger in her had turned him on. And now that he knew she wasn’t a corporate spy, he wanted her again.
“I think you owe me an apology,” she said.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, seducing her with his mouth. He didn’t let go of her, but he felt her soften against him.
“You hurt my feelings,” she whispered when he lifted his head.
“I did?”
“Yes. I don’t like that. I don’t want you to have the power to hurt me, but you already do.”
He held her closer. He’d neve
r thought of Virginia as fragile. The way she’d come to him and strategized to have his child spoke of strength, and he didn’t like the thought that he might be a vulnerability for her.
“I’m sorry,” he said at last. “We’ve known each other only a short time, but I know you wouldn’t lie to me about your involvement.”
He kissed her again, trying to say with actions the things he had no words for. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—tell her that she had made him vulnerable. Vulnerable men made mistakes, because they had something to lose.
Marco was just realizing that he did have more to lose than just money for Moretti Motors, and he didn’t like that. He had to figure out a way to insulate himself from the feelings Virginia evoked in him.
Virginia didn’t want to stop being angry at Marco, but she did. Life was too short, and her time with Marco was limited, so she let her anger go. She knew that he’d asked because he didn’t know her—four weeks was hardly enough time to build complete trust—but she’d hoped that they were working toward that. Regardless of what happened between them as a couple, she knew that once they had a child, they’d have to depend on and trust each other.
She twined her arms around his neck and held him close, resting her head against his shoulder. She wanted to pretend that falling for Marco wasn’t going to adversely affect her, but it already had. She was changing in an attempt to please him, and letting go of her anger was just a little thing—one of the many that didn’t really matter to her as much as time in his arms did.
“Mi scusi, il Signore Moretti,” Vincent said from the doorway.
Virginia liked Marco’s butler. The man traveled with Marco and made sure that Marco had everything he needed.
“Sì, Vincente?”
“Your parents are waiting for you in the study.”
“Tell them we will be right there.”
“Sì, signore.”
Vincent left and Virginia felt a sense of reluctance to meet Marco’s parents. They had to know that her grandmother was the reason for their family curse.
“I think I’ll go freshen up first,” Virginia said.
“You look fine. There’s no need to do anything.”
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