Sweet Seduction Read Free Page B

won’t sell to you?’
    He cocked his head. ‘Correct.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘The owners are old-fashioned. They don’t . . .’ He hesitated and frowned. ‘They don’t believe I’d run it with the same family values.’
    ‘You wouldn’t, would you? Just like you’re planning with this place. You’ll strip it of its heritage, replace all the staff and by the time you’re finished —’
    ‘My strategy has worked successfully all over the world.’
    ‘Can’t you see . . .’ She stopped talking. What was the point? Of course he wouldn’t understand. Hotels were his business, not his life. ‘So you think if you turn up married, they’ll sell it to you.’
    ‘Precisely.’
    ‘It won’t work.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because no one’s going to believe that the famous Antonio Moretti has married some small-time hotelier from Melbourne.’ She laughed. ‘Certainly not one who isn’t the least bit glamorous and who’s totally broke.’
    ‘You’re very beautiful, Sienna,’ he said. ‘Anyway, people believe what I want them to believe.’
    She blinked. Had Antonio Moretti called her beautiful? Or was it only a word meant to distract and flatter her? What else had he said? Fortunately he didn’t seem to notice she’d lost track of the conversation.
    ‘My intention is to save this hotel in Italy,’ he said. ‘I need the owners to know I am not the wastrel they think I am.’
    ‘You plan to lie to get what you want.’
    The expression on his face made her wish she’d kept her mouth shut.
    ‘The hotel owners have drawn incorrect conclusions as to the sort of person I am.’ He struggled to keep his voice steady. ‘Marriage will facilitate a sale that will make the owners very rich and save an important part of Italy’s heritage. Sometimes in business the end justifies the means. This is one such example.’
    ‘Let me get this straight: you’re prepared to marry a complete stranger simply to get your hands on a hotel.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You own dozens of hotels; why is this one so special?’
    ‘It’s not,’ he said, a little too quickly. He took a deep breath. ‘It’s important for my country’s heritage that this hotel is preserved. Politicians, movie stars, VIPs from all over the world have stayed there. The photographs in the lobby alone are worth a small fortune.’
    ‘So, this is purely an altruistic enterprise?’ She hoped he noted the sarcasm in her voice. ‘What’s the real reason?’
    He didn’t answer immediately. Instead he stared out at the grey Melbourne weather. His fingers brushed briefly across his scar.
    ‘That
is
the real reason.’ He paused. ‘And I suppose it has some sentimental value. I spent all my summer holidays there as a child.’
    Sienna considered him closely. This last admission had been difficult for him. It almost made him seem . . . human. The image of the beach shack her family owned in Portsea filled her mind. Running a hotel, her family didn’t have much time off, but each year, after the summer madness, her parents would take her out of school for two weeks at the beach.
    Her teeth grazed her lips. Those times represented absolute happiness, now forever gone. She blinked hard. Okay, she got it.
    But marriage?
    ‘Why don’t you simply offer more money?’ she asked.
    ‘I’ve already offered them twice the value of the place,’ he said, thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets. ‘It’s me they have a problem with.’
    ‘And you think a fake marriage will change that?’ She thought about the front page of today’s paper. The shot of Antonio and Amy would surely have made the Italian press. The world followed Antonio’s every move as though he were royalty.
    ‘It won’t appear fake,’ he said.
    She walked to her desk and pulled the newspaper from her out-tray. Opening it to the front page, she held it up for him to see. ‘No one’s going to believe you’re married to me.’
    She turned the paper round and stared at the picture