She kept his child hidden...
Now heâll claim them both!
Cristiano Moretti is furious that Hallie hid the consequences of their hot night together! He will not inflict his own childhood abandonment on his son, so he demands that Hallie marry him. Soon they realize the passion between them is as powerful as ever...but when all Hallie wants is a real family, will Cristianoâs seduction be enough to secure his legacy?
USA TODAY bestselling author JENNIE LUCASâS parents owned a bookstore, and she grew up surrounded by books, dreaming about faraway lands. A fourth-generation Westerner, she went east at sixteen to boarding school on scholarship, wandered the world, got married, then finally worked her way through college before happily returning to her hometown. A 2010 RITA® Award finalist and 2005 Golden Heart® Award winner, she lives in Idaho with her husband and children.
Also by Jennie Lucas
The Consequences of That Night
The Sheikhâs Last Seduction Uncovering Her Nine Month Secret Nine Months to Redeem Him A Ring for Vincenzoâs Heir Baby of His Revenge The Consequence of His Vengeance Carrying the Spaniardâs Child Claiming His Nine-Month Consequence
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
ISBN: 978-1-474-07225-0
THE SECRET THE ITALIAN CLAIMS
© 2018 Jennie Lucas
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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Dedication
To Julie Henke, who flew all the way from St. Louis to Orlando to meet me at a book signing.
Wonderful readers like you are why I do what I do.
Dear Reader,
What would you do if you had a one-night stand with the man you secretly loved and then found yourself unexpectedly pregnant? Youâd tell him, right? But what if, afterwards, that man was so cold and cruel you vowed to raise the baby aloneâeven though he was a billionaire?
For a year, hotel maid Hallie Hatfield has secretly loved her boss, Cristiano Moretti. When he seduces her itâs like a blissful dreamâuntil he tosses her out at midnight and has her fired!
Desperate and pregnant, Hallie is lucky enough to meet two friends at a New York City single momsâ group. The three women are very different. Hallie cares most about family. Tess cares about love. Lola cares about money. But they all have one thing in common: theyâve never told any of the powerful billionaire fathers about their babies.
The Secret the Italian Claims is Hallieâs story. Tessâs story follows in The Heir the Prince Secures. The trilogy will finish with Lolaâs story, The Baby the Billionaire Demands.
I loved writing these stories about three vibrant women and the untameable men who finally meet their match. I hope you love them too.
With warmest wishes,
Jennie
CHAPTER ONE
FAMILY MEANT EVERYTHING to Hallie Hatfield.
Family meant home.It meant being safe and protected even when times were bad. Even when the money ran out at the end of the month. Even when the kitchen cupboards were bare. Family meant always having someone to watch your back, as you watched theirs.
As Hallie had grown up, in an old wooden house built by her great-grandfather, playing in the woods with her brother, learning songs from her mother, tinkering in the garage with her father, sheâd known, even as a child, exactly how she wanted her life to be.