“No, I spent most of my time watching Speed Racer and building race cars in the garage with my brothers.”
“Cars? Why am I not surprised?” she asked, but her voice had moved again.
“Were you distracting me, mi’angela?”
“Sì!”
There was a kind of joy in her voice that he hadn’t experienced in his own life in so long. He realized suddenly that winning another Grand Prix championship wasn’t going to bring him that joy. This was what was missing from his life. He wasn’t lonely. How could he be with a family the size of his? But he had forgotten how much fun driving used to be. Back when winning a race meant something more than another notch on his place in history. And maybe winning the record-breaking championship would restore his joy for driving, but…what if it didn’t?
For so long, he’d had all of his hopes on the fact that racing would always be in his blood, but he was finding that maybe that wasn’t so.
He didn’t say anything else—and pushed those thoughts from his mind. They wouldn’t serve him well tonight, or at tomorrow’s race.
He stood quietly and listened, slowly sorting out the sounds of the fountains in the garden and the sounds of his own breath.
He heard the small scrapping of shoes against cobblestone and realized that Virginia was moving again.
He pivoted in the direction in which he thought he’d heard her, but the path was empty.
He started in that direction, when he felt the air change behind him and her arms come around him, her hands covering his eyes. He felt the brush of her breasts against his back as she rose onto her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “Guess who?”
He reached up and caught her hands in his, drew them down to his mouth where he kissed them as he turned to face her. Staring down at her, he realized that the joy he’d been searching for was right here. A feeling he’d previously experienced only when pulling gs as he went through the turns on the racetrack swamped him, and he realized that he had fallen for this woman.
Virginia was in a good mood, having decided to just enjoy the time she had with Marco. But although he kissed her with all the passion he usually showed, there was something dark and brooding about him as she looked up into his eyes.
She realized then that life seldom went as planned. She knew that, she thought with disgust. Hadn’t she learned anything during her childhood?
“Why are you hiding in the garden?”
“I wanted a chance to be alone with you before Keke and Elena arrived for dinner.”
“You invited my friends for dinner?”
“Yes. Is that okay?”
“Sure, I’m just surprised. You haven’t seemed too interested in any part of my racing life.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was just after you for the attention that follows you around,” she said. “I saw a special on television once, about some women who hired photographers to follow them out when they went clubbing so that they’d look famous.”
Marco rolled his eyes. “Was this in Europe?”
“No, the U.S. But still, people do like the attention.”
“But you don’t.”
“No,” she said, taking his hand and leading him around the corner in the path to where she’d set up an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne.
“What’s this?”
“I really wanted this night to be memorable for both of us because, well…” How was she going to say that she was pregnant and there was no longer a need for them to stay together? She’d never had a problem finding the right words. Never had any problem saying what was on her mind, and she’d never cared what the consequences were, but tonight…she didn’t want her time with Marco to end.
And she had set this up—as what? She started to feel very vulnerable and a bit stupid. He was going to see through the night she’d planned and realize that she wanted to stay with him.
What was wrong with her? Where was the clear-headed reasoning she’d always had when it came to anything in her love life?
“What are you trying to say?”
She shrugged and realized she didn’t want to say anything about the baby just yet.
“Let’s have something to drink.” She knew that drinking alcohol wasn’t recommended for pregnant women, so she planned to have just a sip of the champagne.
“Are we celebrating something?” he asked.
She wondered if he already suspected that she was pregnant. She’d been nauseous for the last ten days or so.
“I want to toast the qualifying time you posted today. I think you made a new track record.”
“Yes, I did. But that is what they pay me for.”
She arched one eyebrow at him. “Really.”
“Well, that is what Antonio always says. That I’m paid to be the best so that the world will speak the name of Moretti the way they talk about Lamborghini or Andretti.”
“I think your brother is making light of your accomplishments. They should be praising you for doing your job so well. And we will definitely toast your new record.”
Marco drew her over to the champagne stand. He poured the drink into the glasses by the bucket for both of them and offered one to her. “To fulfilling our duty.”
“Yes.” She tapped her glass to his and took a small sip, letting the sparkling wine sit on her tongue until the bubbles dissolved. In this part of the world, the champagne was good. Even labels she hadn’t heard of before were exquisite.
“I noticed a package with my name on it….”
She smiled at him. “I got you a little something. It’s kind of a thank-you for the gift of these days we’ve spent together.”
“I have enjoyed our time together, too. In fact,” he said, drawing her over to the marble bench, “sit down, Virginia.”
She loved the way he said her name, the emphasis he put on the different syllables and the way that his accent made her name sound exotic. It made her feel like she was something more than just plain old Virginia Festa.
She sat down and Marco settled onto the bench next to her. She set her champagne flute on the bench and turned to face him.
He took her hands in his, and she wondered if this was going to be it. The point where he acknowledged that they really had no reason left for staying together.
A knot formed in the pit of her stomach and she almost jumped up and walked away. No matter what he said to her, there was no happy way for the relationship to end for her. Breaking the curse had seemed simple and straightforward when she’d plotted it out. But the reality of Marco had changed everything. He had ripped away her safety net and left her vulnerable. Because as she looked up into his deep, chocolate eyes, she knew that she never wanted to leave him. She never wanted to be anywhere other than by his side.
In childhood, she’d believed that once the curse was lifted from her she’d find a good man, fall in love and live happily ever after. She knew now that wasn’t the case. She was never going to meet another man like Marco. And she’d already given him her heart.…
Why didn’t falling in love make this right? She had truly believed that love made the impossible possible.
“Why do you look at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m about to do something hurtful to you. I don’t like it when you are sad, Virginia.”
“I’m not sad,” she said. And she wasn’t. She was bittersweet, she thought. “What were you going to say?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Stay with me until the end of the race season. I know we said you would stay until there was a child, but regardless of any pregnancy I would like for you to continue traveling and living with me until October.”
“I’d like that.” She took a deep breath. “Um…I took a pregnancy test today, Marco.”
He stilled. “Why didn’t you tell me this right away?”
“I couldn’t find the words,” she said. “I am pregnant.”
He smiled at her. “Excellent. Then that means we are on ou
r way to breaking the curse.”
“It also means we don’t have a reason to stay together,” she said.
“I want you to stay with me. We’re friends now, aren’t we?”
“Yes,” she said. “Does this mean we won’t be lovers still?”
He shook his head. “I don’t want the life we’ve had to change. We can live together until the child is born, and then we will begin our agreed custody.”
Virginia felt like she’d gotten a reprieve and that there was now a bit of hope for the future—for a real future with her and Marco and the tiny spark of life within her womb.
Ten
Marco won in France, came second in the British Grand Prix and then won again in Germany. They’d passed the halfway point in the racing season, and it was sweltering this first week in August. Now they were in Budapest, a city he’d always loved.
Virginia had confirmed that she was indeed expecting his child. He’d hired a physician to travel with them and monitor her, after they’d had a scare with spotting and feared she might lose the baby in Germany.
Now he was at the track garage, avoiding Keke and his brothers. It was odd. They all wanted to talk to him about the same thing—Virginia. But where Keke thought that having a woman in his life and finding a connection with Virginia was the best thing that could happen to Marco, Dom and Antonio both thought he was putting their future in danger.
His brothers had cornered him last night and told him he was putting Moretti Motors in jeopardy by staying with Virginia and taking the risk of falling for her.
He was somewhere in between his brothers and his friend. He didn’t like the new vulnerability he felt, now that Virginia was in his life. Asking her to stay with him for the rest of the season was an easy decision. He’d had mistresses before. But he’d expected his feelings for her to wan the way they had with other women.
Instead, his feelings were growing deeper. He missed her when she wasn’t around. She rarely came to the track with him, and a part of him wondered why she wouldn’t watch him race.
He acknowledged that he’d never really driven for anyone other than himself. Even though Antonio and Dominic told him repeatedly that it was his duty to drive and win, Marco did it for himself. He needed to be out on the track, beating everyone else and getting the adulation and the praise that came from winning.
He looked around the garage, realizing that this was one place in the world where no one expected anything of him. Winning was expected when he was on the track, but here in the garage, with his car nearby and the smell of tires and oil filling the air, he was just another driver.
“Marco Moretti?” a man called from the opening that led to pit row. The man was of average height, with thinning hair that he had unfortunately combed over his pate. He wore wrinkled khaki pants and a long-sleeved black T-shirt.
“Sì?” he asked.
“I’m Vincenzo Peregrina, with Le Monde, out of Paris. I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes.”
Marco glanced around, looking for his crew chief, but everyone had left for the afternoon. If he hadn’t been lingering in the hopes of avoiding his brothers, he wouldn’t be cornered.
“I don’t have the time right now, but you can contact Moretti Motors and make arrangements through my office,” Marco said. He reached into his pocket and handed the other man his card.
“This isn’t about Moretti Motors.”
“Then what is it you wish to speak to me about?” he asked the other man. He didn’t mind doing interviews and found the media to be very helpful most of the time. But this man wasn’t part of the entourage that he usually dealt with.
“The young woman who is traveling with you.”
“You’re not with Le Monde.”
Vincenzo shrugged. “Would you have talked to me if I’d said I was with Hello! magazine?”
“Doubtful. As I’m not going to speak to you about this subject,” Marco said. He saw Pedro, one of the security team who worked in the garage area, and signaled to him.
“Good day, Mr. Peregina.”
Pedro reached for Vincenzo’s arm, but the other man put his hands up. “I’m going. But you should know that just because you ignore my questions doesn’t mean I’m not going to find out who she is.”
“Your questions are of no concern to me,” Marco said. He left the garage and went to the drivers’ lot where his convertible waited. He climbed into the car and sat there for a few minutes. Maybe it was time to stop avoiding his brothers.
He didn’t want the media to swarm around Virginia. He wanted to keep her private.
He dialed Dom’s mobile. It was time to bring the full force of Moretti Motors into his personal life.
“This is Dominic.”
“Dom, cio e Marco. I need to talk to you.”
“I’ve got ten minutes before I have to go to a press conference about the new Vallerio.”
“Did you find the leak?”
“No. But Antonio is putting together two sets of information, and we think we’ve narrowed the suspects down. We will see what information our enemy has, and then we should know who is our spy. Is that what you were calling for?”
“No, Dom. I just had a tabloid reporter ask me about Virginia, and I’d like to make sure that no one comes close to her. I do not think she is accustomed to talking to the paparazzi.”
“That usually doesn’t bother you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your women…you usually leave them to deal with the press on their own.”
“Virginia is different.”
Dom sighed. “That is what I was afraid of. We need to meet in person.”
“Why?”
“Because you are forgetting about your blood vow to Antonio and me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are allowing yourself to fall for her.”
He uttered a curse under his breath, and his brother said nothing. Marco wasn’t about to admit to Dom that it was too late, he’d already fallen for Virginia.
Virginia enjoyed dinner out with Marco. They went to an exclusive restaurant, and on the drive back he put down the top of his car. The Budapest skyline conjured up fairy-tale settings. The castle in the background and the warm evening air made her relax, and she forgot all the worries she’d been carrying around with her.
Marco had been treating her like she was fragile, and a part of her thought that he also saw her and the baby in her womb as something precious to him. Something that he wanted to protect and keep safe.
She turned her head against the leather seat and looked at his profile as he drove. He reached over and took one of her hands, brushing his lips against her palm before he placed her hand on his thigh.
He drove with the superb skill that she expected of him. And his concentration when he was on the road was intense. She was coming to realize that it was the same intensity he brought to everything he touched.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“That you are a very protective man,” she said.
He didn’t respond, just glanced over at her.
“It makes me feel special to be with you like this.”
He lifted her hand again, kissing her knuckles this time. “You are special to me.”
“You are to me, as well, Marco. I never expected my quest to free my family from the curse to turn out this way.”
He steered them through the streets back to their hotel. “What did you expect?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t really dated all that much, so I don’t have a lot of men to compare you to.”
“And how do I fare compared to these few other men?” he asked.
She took a deep breath and the magic that was this night in Budapest filled her. “There is no comparison. You are so much more than I ever expected to find in any man.”
“You make me sound—
“Like what?” she asked, wondering if she’d revealed too much. But she had the feeli
ng that he must have already guessed the depth of her love for him. She tried to keep her feelings to herself, but she was struggling with that.
“Like someone who’s better than I really am. Please don’t see me for anything more than what I am.”
“What are you?”
“A Moretti. My loyalty is always going to be to my blood. My family comes first, and then racing.”
“And I’m a distant third?” she asked.
She’d already known he didn’t care about her in the same way she did for him. It had been obvious from the beginning that there was much more to Marco’s love life than there had ever been to hers.
He was a worldly man, and that had never really bothered her until this moment.
“Not a distant third,” he said. “I’m actually not sure where you fit. As the mother of my child, I think that makes you family.”
She knew that Marco wasn’t one of those men who felt comfortable discussing his feelings. He often told her how he felt about her body in very explicit terms when they made love. But he never spoke of his emotions.
He pulled the car to a stop in front of their hotel and she climbed out when the valet opened her door. Marco was already coming around the car, tossing his keys to the attendant.
“Excuse me, ma’am. May I have a word with you?”
Virginia glanced over at the man in wrinkled khaki pants who was standing off to the side of the valet stand.
“No, you may not,” Marco said. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he led her into the hotel and straight to the concierge desk.
“There is a reporter outside who is bothering us. He does not have permission to speak to us and I don’t want anyone on your staff giving him information about where we are staying.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Moretti. I will take of the problem immediately. Perhaps you’d like to move to one of our other properties in Budapest.”
“No, I would not. I have to race in the morning and I trust that your security staff will ensure my privacy.”
“Of course we will.”
Marco led them from the desk to the elevator. Once the car doors closed behind them, Virginia turned to him.
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