The Moretti Seduction by Katherine Garbera Page B

said.
    Antonio sat in the other guest chair, listening with half an ear as Dom caught Marco up on everything that had been happening the last two weeks while he’d been out of town.
    He studied his younger brother and realized, for the first time since Marco had fallen in love with Virginia, that he envied his brother. Which was ridiculous. He was a bachelor. He loved his single life, yet a part of him wanted someone to come home to. Wanted a partner that would always be there for him.
    He rubbed the back of his neck, knowing that he wasn’t going to find that with Nathalie. He couldn’t. No matter how much he wanted her in his life, his priority had to always be Moretti Motors.
    “Tony?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Did you hear what I said?” Dom asked. “The leak is in the corporate offices. I’ve asked Ian to meet us after the dinner hour tonight. He has some information that he didn’t want to give to me at the office.”
    “I don’t like the sound of that,” Antonio said. “He must think that the problem is in one of our offices.”
    “I’m not going to guess at anything. Can you join us after dinner?”
    He thought about the call he’d coerced Nathalie into making. He wanted to talk to her, but canceling an important meeting for her…Well, that would be giving her too much power in his personal life and he wasn’t willing to do that just now. “ Sì, I’m available.”
    “ Buon. So, where do we stand on the Vallerio negotiations?”
    “I offered them a share of the profits from the roadster, and a seat on the board for the CEO of Vallerio Incorporated. They want to do profit sharing companywide for all of their shareholders. I’ve told them we’ll consider it if it’s a reciprocal arrangement.”
    “Is that fiscally a good idea?” Dom asked.
    “I am doing some research on their profit and loss statements for the last couple of years. They are expecting a huge profit in the third quarter this year, but I haven’t been able to figure out why.”
    “Doesn’t Nathalie know?” Dom asked.
    “I’m sure she does but I haven’t asked her yet. She is busy with figuring out what her board will accept and preparing a counteroffer.”
    “I thought you were working on seducing her to get more information,” Dom said.
    “It’s never that easy with women,” Marco said. “You must know that, Dom.”
    “Indeed, but this time I think it’s important that Tony pull out all the stops.”
    “Are you giving him romantic advice?” Marco asked. “What have you two been up to while I’ve been racing?”
    Antonio knew this was going to continue going downhill. Marco would tease him endlessly because Dom had suggested he seduce Nathalie. Antonio realized that to anyone on the outside the ploy was going to seem cold and calculated.
    Still, Antonio knew he hadn’t seduced her for any reason other than that he wanted her. He was attracted to her body and soul, he thought.
    “Tony?”
    “Dom suggested I use sex as another means of weakening her defenses.”
    “Did you? That’s ethically wrong,” Marco said.
    “Of course it is. Nathalie and I are both very aware of our family rivalry,” Antonio said.
    “That’s good. Do you like her?” Marco asked.
    He shrugged. No way was he going to talk about Nathalie with his brothers. Dom would find it uncomfortable if he mentioned that he was attracted to Nathalie in a way he’d never been attracted to another woman. And he knew that he didn’t want to have to choose between his loyalty to his brothers and to Nathalie.
    Was he loyal to her? He didn’t like to think that she had any control over him, but he knew she did.
    “Of course I like her. She’s sexy and smart, a lethal combination in any woman.”
    Marco laughed and Dom looked uncomfortable.
    “Can you handle her?”
    “She’s only a woman,” Antonio said. Now if he could only convince his emotions of that fact.

    Nathalie waved her mother and sister off as they went to the bakery section of the