Read Enthralled by Moretti for Free Online

though he had read the story from beginning to end. Then he cursed himself for being fanciful, which was so unlike him.
    ‘Lyla was my mother’s name. I like it. I didn’t think there was anything wrong in using it.’
    ‘And so you stopped liking it when you decided to join a law firm?’
    ‘You said we weren’t going to do a question-and-answer session!’ Her skin burned from the intensity of his eyes on her. Alessandro Moretti, even as a young man in his mid-twenties, had always had a powerful, predatory appeal. There was something dangerous about him that sent shivers up and down her spine and drew her to him, even when common sense told her it was mad. He certainly hadn’t lost that appeal.
    ‘It was easier to just use my real name when I joined Edge Ellison, that first law firm. I mean, my Christian name.’
    ‘Why am I getting the feeling that there are a thousand holes in whatever fairy story you’re spinning me?’
    ‘I’m not spinning you a fairy story!’ Chase snapped. Bright spots of colour stained her cheeks. ‘If you want, I can bring my birth certificate to show you!’ Except that would suggest a second meeting, which was not something that was going to be on the cards.
    But what would he do if he found out where she really came from? What would he do if he discovered that the solid, middle-class background she had innocently hinted at had been about as real as a swimming pool in the middle of the Sahara?
    He might be tempted to have a quiet chat with the head of her law firm, she thought with a sickening jolt. Of course, she hadn’t lied about any of her qualifications, and she knew that she was a damned good lawyer. There was no way she could be given the sack for just allowing people to assume a background that wasn’t entirely true, yet...
    Wounded pride and dislike could make a person do anything in their power to get revenge. What if he shared all her little white lies with the people she worked with—the posh, private-school educated young men and women who weren’t half as good as she was but who would have a field day braying with laughter at her expense? She was strong, but she knew that she was not so strong that she could survive ridicule at the work place.
    ‘I should be getting back to work.’ She drained the remainder of her orange juice and made to stand up.
    Without thinking, Alessandro reached out and circled his hand around her wrist.
    Chase froze. Really, it was the most peculiar sensation...as if her entire body had locked into place so that she was incapable of movement. His fingers around her wrist were as dramatic as a branding iron and she felt her heart pick up speed until she thought it might explode inside her.
    ‘Not so fast.’
    ‘I’ve answered all your questions, Alessandro!’
    ‘What the hell was in it for you?’
    ‘Nothing! I...just made a mistake! It was a long time ago. I was just a kid.’
    ‘A kid of twenty and already hitched. I didn’t think that kind of thing happened any more.’
    ‘I told you...we were in love...’ Chase looked away and shook her hand free of his vice-like grip. ‘We didn’t see the point of waiting.’
    ‘And your families both joined in the celebrations?’
    She shrugged. ‘He’s dead now, anyway, so it doesn’t matter whether they joined in the celebrations or not.’
    ‘Spoken like a true grieving widow.’ Why did he keep getting this feeling that something was out of kilter? Was his mind playing tricks on him? Had his ego been so badly bruised eight years ago that he would rather look for hidden meanings than take her very simple tale of treachery at face value?
    ‘It’s been years. I’ve moved on.’
    ‘And no one else has surfaced on the scene to replace the late lamented?’
    ‘Why is this all about me?’ Chase belatedly thought that she might turn the spotlight onto him. If there was one thing to be said for going into law whilst simultaneously detaching yourself from most of the human race, it was