Page 6 of Secret Match
She took a pen from the holder on the table and he noticed the slight tremble of her fingers.
Clearly she was nervous. He folded his hands on the table before him. His grandfather had the reputation of being vicious in business but to Gio, he’d been kind and read to him adventure stories at bedtime. Other than his mother, his grandfather had been the one to kiss his forehead if he scraped his knee. The memories caused him to sit back as they played vividly in his mind. “Yes, he died when I was ten, but he was always very kind.”
She let out a small sigh and dropped the pen to the folder. “Well, at least you have some good Morgan memories. My brothers and I were all psychologically damaged by our father and are glad he died.”
“Then we have much in common,” he said fast and without thinking.
Now, his brother Anthony thought their father was a living embodiment of a god and to this day seemed just as entitled as their father had acted.
Gio had set up his menswear shop in Milan and owned his own estate, far away from Anthony. His other two brothers were like him and kept their father’s memory at a distance.
He saw Mitch Morgan in Victoria’s blue eyes but ignored the déjà vu feeling. He picked up his briefcase and took out the printed contract while his sister said, “Including why we’re here.”
Fair. Victoria had clearly learned their father’s rule in business to always fire the first shot. He leaned back in his chair and looked down his nose. “Yes, and how you tried to steal my trademark.”
She tapped the pen and made it click as she said, “I had no idea about your company when I started mine.”
“Even with my notoriety?”
“I don’t read gossip magazines.”
Neither one of them believed that. The American Morgans had never bothered to find the Italian half-siblings. He’d give her the benefit of the doubt in not knowing he was Mitch’s son too, but he wasn’t sold. “Then you didn’t do your research.”
Her cheeks had a tinge of redness to them as she admitted, “You’re right. I wasn’t researching male fashion at the time, or our father’s logo.”
Good. She wasn’t entirely full of nonsense like his father and brother. He nodded at her and said, “I will admit your women’s line is at the top of its game.”
She took out a spreadsheet from her folder and showed it to him. “We’re both profiting from each other’s success.”
He’d run the same numbers. Advertisers already assumed they were in business together. The numbers, if they worked together, outshone his own personal estimates on his men’s fashion line. He mimicked their father’s expression, also taking a pen from the cup on the table. “So, sis, do you want this merger our lawyers hammered out?”
“I do.” She signed the papers before her. “I wasn’t expecting a partner when I started my business. All my other brothers don’t care about fashion.”
“And I wasn’t expecting to meet the American sister, ever,” he said while she handed him the papers.
“Yet here we are.” She watched him closely as he flipped through the contract.
He initialed the highlighted part of the agreement that said final papers were to be signed by both parties after working together and inspecting the product of the other. “So we can agree on the two-week trial?”
“We will each work a week in the other’s houses to see if working together every day is something we can both handle.”
“Yes.” He signed.
She put her elbow on the table. “As long as we’re clear that I would still run my lines and you would run yours.”
He handed her back the agreement. “Absolutely, though the label House of Morgan will rival all other design houses with both of us in charge.”
“Let’s get to work,” she said. “I’ll have certified copies ready for you and sent to both our legal teams.”
He laughed and shook his head. Victoria even had some of their father’s expressions though he’d heard and met plenty of people to know it was cultural. “That’s so American of you, Victoria.”
Victoria lifted a slender shoulder without apology. “I set the tour for two.” She texted someone on her phone.
He stood. It wasn’t even eleven so this meant he had hours with Kiwi and he needed to find out everything about her this time. No more secrets. If they worked together he’d be a happy man. He bowed to Victoria when she rose as well. “I will see you here then.”
She gave him a quizzical gaze as she picked up her papers. “Where are you going?”
Fair enough. Normally he’d have asked his sister out to lunch, but Kiwi was here and he had to see her. He patted his stomach. “I just flew in and I’m famished. So I set a lunch date.”
