The Moretti Heir by Katherine Garbera Page B

brother, said very little at first, but surprisingly, he’d been the one to add a few stipulations in her favor.
    Virginia didn’t have the money to hire a good attorney, and she certainly had no friends here in Europe who could recommend a solicitor. But that was neither here nor there. She knew what she wanted, and this was nothing more than a formalization of everything she and Marco had talked about the night before. But hearing it in this sterile setting made her feel kind of cheap and unsure of herself.
    Dominic, Antonio and their lawyer left the room, but Marco remained.
    “Do you understand everything as it’s laid out?”
    “I think so. I just don’t want to throw away all my rights without thinking this through.”
    “I’m not going to agree to anything less than what’s been laid out.”
    “I know,” she said. Part of what drew her to Marco as a man—aside from his being a Moretti—was the forceful and determined way he lived his life. He was a winner on and off the track, and she doubted that he’d settle for less than he wanted.
    “So what’s the hold up?” he asked.
    “Nothing. If you must know, I wasn’t focused enough to comprehend everything when the lawyer was talking, so I just want a chance to read over the contract.”
    Marco came close to her side of the table and leaned against it. He was dressed in a fine Italian suit and he looked so good that it was all she could do to pretend she wasn’t entranced by him. She hoped she was successful and he didn’t notice the way she stared at him as if she were fascinated by him.
    “Go on then,” he said. “Read over it.”
    But she couldn’t. The scent of his cologne teased her with every breath she took, and she was hyperaware that he was standing close to her. All she wanted to do was move beyond the lawyers and the contract, to the next step—living with him until she was pregnant.
    That wasn’t something she’d ever dreamed she’d have, and she wanted to begin this phase of her life. Even though they’d have this contract between them, for the first time in her life she was going to have someone to share her days with.
    Her mother had never really been a participant in Virginia’s life. From the earliest memory, she’d known that her mother was simply existing until Virginia was old enough to survive on her own.
    She pulled the papers closer to her and skimmed over them. They had been prepared in Italian, but there was a translation into English. It didn’t matter to her what the papers outlined. She knew that if she didn’t break the curse she was going to spend the rest of her life alone, and probably sad and bitter.
    She took a deep breath and signed the papers. And then pushed them to the center of the table. She stood up. “Okay, that’s done. Let’s get out of here.”
    “Not so fast. You didn’t even read the contract.”
    “I skimmed it, and as you said, it’s not as if I have much choice. You have something I want. Something I’m willing to do anything to get. So in a way, I’ve already signed a contract. I want your child, Marco.”
    “Why is having my child so important to you?” he asked. “It sounds like it goes beyond breaking the curse.”
    “You won’t understand,” she said. A man who knew what a real family was, a man who had the support of his parents, brothers and friends, would never be able to comprehend what kind of lonely and isolated life she’d had. There was nothing she wouldn’t trade to have someone special in her life. She wasn’t willing to be the sad by-product of a long-ago curse, the way her mother had been.
    “Try explaining it to me. I’m a very smart man.”
    She smiled up at him. “I know you are. It’s one of the things that attracted me to you.”
    “Dominic and Antonio are smart, as well. So why my baby?”
    “I don’t care about your brothers. From the first moment I realized the way to break the curse, I knew that you were the one I wanted.”
    “So not just