The Secret Kept from the Italian

Secret Heirs of Billionaires #20

by Kate Hewitt

A waitress struggles to guard her daughter—and her heart—from a ruthless Italian billionaire in this secret baby romance by a USA Today bestseller.Looking up from the table she’s serving, waitress Maisie Dobson is horrified to meet the intense gaze of Antonio Rossi, merciless billionaire and father of her child! Rejected after one mind-blowing night, Maisie kept her unexpected pregnancy a secret. Antonio’s determined to claim his daughter, but their connection reminds Maisie that she still must protect her heart—because billionaires don’t wed waitresses . . . do they?

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Category Romance, Contemporary

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2018

About the author

Kate is the USA Today-bsetselling author of many books of both historical and contemporary fiction. Under the name Katharine Swartz, she is the author of the Tales from Goswell books, a series of time-slip novels set in the village of Goswell.

She likes to read women's fiction, mystery and thrillers, as well as historical novels. She particularly enjoys reading about well-drawn characters and avoids high-concept plots.

Having lived in both New York City and a tiny village on the windswept northwest coast of England, she now resides in a market town in Wales with her husband, five children, and two Golden Retrievers.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was awesomely sweet with just the perfect balance of romance and angst.

I couldn't put this book down ! I hadn't intended to read it yesterday because I'd already started another one but my curiosity made me glance at the first chapter and then I was hooked. This was a slightly different second chance, secret baby romance filled with beautiful angst and MC's who both deserve a HEA, after the tragic experiences that have haunted them for such a long time.

A H mired in a cycle of self hate, who blames himself for his younger brother's death, lives with the daily reminder that his parents have rejected him and he also thinks he's undeserving of anybody's love.

A warm, nurturing, loving heroine who lost both parents when she was just 19 years old and was forced to become a surrogate parent to her younger brother.

When you put these two together, you get a heart wrenching love story.

Maisie is a 24 year old New Yorker whose parents died in a horrible car accident when she was just 19. She was left with no money and the responsibility of her 17 year old brother Max. In many instances, a young woman in this situation would've become cynical, bitter and depressed. This heroine, however, refused to let her life be defined by tragedy so she worked hard to make a home for herself and Max. Maisie works as a night cleaner and attends Julliard during the day. At the start of the story, she is optimistic about her future because her brother has graduated from college, has a new job and no longer needs her to provide for him.

This is Maisie:



Maisie is working the night shift when she meets a polite and sad handsome man in one of the offices. Antonio is alone and is trying to drink himself into oblivion because it's the 10th anniversary of his younger brother's death. She's drawn to him and that nurturing, warm part of her senses that he's a man who's filled with anguish:


Then he looked up. Piercing blue eyes pinned her to the spot.

‘Well, hello,’ he drawled, his mouth twisting into a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. His voice was low and honeyed, with the trace of an accent. ‘How are you this very fine evening?’

Maisie would have felt alarmed or even afraid, except in that moment she saw such anguish in his eyes, in the harsh lines of his face, that her heart twisted inside her and she took another step into the room.

‘I’m all right,’ she said quietly, taking in the bottle of whisky planted on his desk that was mostly empty. ‘I think the real question is, how are you?’

The man tilted his head back, revealing even more of his throat and chest, the glass nearly slipping from his fingers.

‘How am I?’ he repeated. ‘That is a good question. A very good question.’


This is Antonio:




It was obvious that Antonio was at a low point in his life and needed someone to confide in. He was really sweet, polite, kind and communicative to Maisie. He even did something that the conventional HPlandia alpha male H would never do: he helped Maisie to finish vacuuming and cleaning out the office !



Antonio confides in Maisie about Paolo's death but doesn't give her all the details and she tells him all about her life and her little brother Max. This was a scene that was quite endearing because it's not the kind of thing that I expect from a H who dwells in HPlandia. Maisie is drawn to this man and wants to ease his emotional suffering. She ends up doing with some hot sexual healing. It's the most mind blowing experience for them both and Antonio is so overcome with emotion after they make love, that he ends up in tears:

Now shudders racked his body and his arms tightened around her, holding on to her as if she was his anchor. And she did anchor him, wrapping her arms around him, her fingers stroking his hair, whispering words of endearment and comfort as if he were a child. It was so weak, so shaming, and yet so necessary. He couldn’t hold it together any more. He just couldn’t. And he hated that even as he burrowed against her, seeking the comfort only she could provide.



This is the point where everything changed for the worse because the H's defense mechanism kicks in and he pulls away from her. He's afraid of the depth of emotional longing that Maisie brings out in him and he's also determined to shield his heart from further torment. Antonio believes that nobody can truly love him because his parents, who are still alive, hate him and blame him for Paolo's death. The H equates love with pain and loss so he's reluctant to forge any deep human relationships. That's why he does the unforgivable when Maisie turns up 4 weeks later to talk to him: he pretends that he doesn't know her !


Taking a steadying breath, he raised his eyebrows in polite enquiry. ‘I’m sorry, but do I know you?’

Maisie’s eyes widened and she stiffened as if absorbing a blow. For a second she looked dazed, unable to speak. ‘Know me...?’

It's awful and cruel but Antonio did it because he thought that she'd be better without him in her life. This was a man who really hates himself and is filled with little self worth. He's also ashamed that she was the one person who'd seen him at his lowest. He's ashamed that he'd been drunk and cried in her arms when he'd told her about his brother's death. I didn't like what he did but I didn't hate him because in his warped mind, he honestly believed that he didn't deserve to have someone who cared about him. He thought he would just end up tainting her sweetness and didn't think he was good enough for her:

He felt a lurch of guilty regret at what he was about to do, and yet he’d already chosen this route. He couldn’t change it now. He wouldn’t. Besides, this was the kinder way, really.

Maisie was heartbroken because she'd come to tell him about her pregnancy. She ends up walking away from him and decides that her unborn child is better off without him. The MC's are separated for a little over a year and meet again when Maisie is working as a waitress at a high end private dinner party. The H intervenes when a fellow guest is rude and offensive to the heroine, but Maisie isn't grateful. She's angry and serves him the same treatment that he'd dished out to her the last time they'd met:

‘Maisie.’

She froze halfway to the kitchen, Antonio’s voice a low, insistent throb behind her. Then realization flashed through her and she turned slowly.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking, ‘but do I know you?’

Antonio’s jaw tightened and he gave a terse nod. ‘I suppose I deserve that.

Maisie wants nothing to do with him and rejects him:



The H is hurt, follows her and spies her later on with a little baby. He's shocked but he wants to be there for his baby daughter Ella. Antonio's still reluctant to be in a relationship with Maisie but he convinces her to move to Milan with him. She agrees to live there on a trial basis for 6 months. He doesn't propose marriage but he buys her a house. Once again, it's clear that the only reason he doesn't propose marriage is because he thinks he's unworthy. It's not because he wants to be a manwhoring bachelor. He's just afraid that he would end up hurting and losing another person he loved:

He wanted this...but what if he failed yet again? What if he lost it all? He didn’t think he had it in him to pay for his sins a second time.

This was a novel where it was the baby who helped to heal the H's tormented heart. He was afraid to love Maisie but his tiny daughter infiltrated his cold shuttered heart and forced him to love her:

He turned back to Ella, his whole countenance softening. Ella blinked up at him, looking serious in a way only babies could look, and then, quite suddenly, a smile burst across her face like a rainbow, and she let out a gurgle, the sound one of pure joy. Antonio blinked, seeming stunned, and then an answering smile bloomed across his face and he pressed a kiss to his daughter’s forehead.

Antonio's relationship with Maisie was the definitive push and pull type; one minute he's unable to keep her out of his arms and then he turns away and treats her like a formal stranger. It's kinda like how this dog behaves with his toy:



It was obvious to me that he loved Maisie but he couldn't admit that because the biggest problem was his inability to love himself. Antonio was a man who really needed someone to love him and I felt so sorry for him because none of his billions could purchase the inner peace that he needed more than anything in the world. The MC's relationship improved as time passed but Antonio continued to live in his apartment while Maisie and the baby lived in the house. He visited every other day and they soon started having sex again. He was on the brink of committing to a more permanent relationship when disaster struck. The baby got ill with bacterial meningitis while Ella was at a spa and Antonio was looking after her.


This is the baby Ella:



Antonio ended up blaming himself for it and once again his self hate started to eat away at him. He confessed his love for her but also told her that she was better off without him. This time, however, Maisie fought to save their relationship:

‘Don’t you dare walk out on me,’ she said, her voice low and savage. ‘Don’t you dare play the martyr when you’re really a coward.’

‘What—?’

‘Yes, Antonio, a coward.’ Her voice broke and tears sparkled in her eyes. ‘You’re going to walk out on me, on my daughter, on us as a couple and a family, and for what earthly reason?’

‘I told you—’

‘Because you’re scared,’ she finished furiously, tears streaking down her cheeks. ‘Because loving someone is scary and it hurts and you risk so much. Do you think I don’t know that? That I haven’t experienced it as much as you have? For the whole time I’ve been with you, I’ve let you call the shots. I’ve been too weak to do anything but let you play the tune. But not this time, Antonio. Not when so much is on the line.’



Beautiful angst...

That's the only term I can think of for this novel. It's about a man living in his self imposed purgatory, who needs to be loved because only love can save him and a woman whose heart is big enough to provide this salvation. This is a story about the healing power of love and family. I liked the fact that the H didn't force the heroine to marry him just for the sake of the baby. Antonio was always aware of his issues and knew that he couldn't force others to live with him until he sorted himself out. I also enjoyed the scenes with the heroine's brother Max because he's an anomaly in HPlandia: he's the loving, kind, loyal and helpful relative. Most often, heroines have relatives who are barely more than evil scum or useless parasites. Max was the younger brother who had stepped up and stood by his older sister when she needed him the most. He'd moved back in with her when she got pregnant and sacrificed his life as a happy go lucky single guy to babysit his niece and help his sister with her bills.

Antonio is more sensitive than the conventional H in HPlandia and there were a couple of instances where his assholery flared up, but I liked him a lot and I just wanted to crawl into the pages of the novel and soothe his torment. He'd made a horrible mistake in his youth: he'd peer pressured his brother to participate in a car race against him and it had ended badly for Paolo because the latter had crashed and died. Antonio's parents had blamed him, kicked him out of their lives and refused to speak to him for 10 years !

In the very short epilogue, the MC's are getting married and Maisie has managed to help him mend his battered relationship with his parents.

Safety: No cheating, no OW, no OM. Both MC's were celibate during their separation. The H had dated a few women during the separation period but there wasn't any indication that he'd had sex with them:

Admittedly, he hadn’t spared women much of a thought, in general. Work had taken over, as he sought to expand his empire further into America, and the few dates he’d gone on had been unsatisfactory in the extreme. Women, at least the women he dated, had started to bore and irritate him, and that was when he tended to think about Maisie. To remember their night together, in all its glory and shame.

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ivy has the definitive and beautiful review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My two cents.

Slow burn romance where Kate Hewitt throws away some of the more aggravating tropes in HPLand which is great, but does lower the angst and drama.

One, the heroine actually resists having sex (a couple of times) with the beta-disguised-as-alpha hero despite her attraction to him. YES! THANK YOU, KH! Finally a heroine who has a modicum of self-respect.

Two, the hero does not slut shame, belittle, or rough up the heroine physically, emotionally or mentally.

Three, the little brother the heroine works hard to raise is actually appreciative and reciprocates in helping his big sis as much as he can.

Thoughts:

The H is a charmer, and our hardworking little virgin has a ONS with consequences. For once, the connection was believable rather than the author telling us how overwhelming the quivering loins were.

The hero has a major fail when he pretends not to know her when she comes to alert him to the consequences. This big fat fail lingered in my mind as well as the heroine, and she serves it back to him at an appropriate time.

He has a sad backstory which has prevented him from connecting with anyone since his family has ditched him, and the rest of the book is the push/pull on the part of the hero. The push/pull results in the heroine verging on booty call material as he uses her as an anesthetic for his pain, but he gets over it.

Yes, it was missing some of the major drama you get in an HP, but it made it more of a real story than the regular HP tropes stamping through the weeds.

One issue that definitely needed to be developed before the epilogue was the H's parents, but we do get out HEA.

P.S.
I wonder if Kate Hewitt is a fan of Jacquiline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series as the heroine is called Maise Dobson. Very similar.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

For once, this author didn’t totally depress me. H/h had dueling backstories, though. Hero feels responsible for his brother’s death since bro died when they were racing their cars, egged on by the hero. Heroine’s parents died when she was 19 and she’s put everything on hold until her brother graduated from college.

They meet on the ten-year anniversary of the H’s brother’s death. He is getting drunk in a borrowed office, she is cleaning to pay for her music course at Julliard. They have a one-night stand and the virgin heroine ends up pregnant. Hero pretends not to know her when she confronts him six weeks later.

He pretends not to know her. Let that sink in.

Heroine gives up on him and has her daughter on her own. She meets the hero while waitressing, three months after her daughter’s birth. The action then shifts to Italy where the hero has asked her to stay for six months so they can figure out what to do.

I liked this well enough, but the hero was a little too human for my tastes. He cries in the heroine’s arms - twice. He is cowardly about his feelings. He isn’t a bad guy – just really messed up. I did feel for him – but the heroine has way more patience than I do. Even when there is a crisis at the end of the story, heroine had to be the emotional rock. I’m not sure how much of a partnership they’ll have if the heroine has to do all of the heavy-lifting during a crisis, but hero makes a lot of money and is good in bed, so heroine seems happy.

I also wish there would have been some kind of reconciliation with the hero’s parents – if not for the hero’s sake, but for their daughter. She has no grandparents to spoil her, otherwise.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was missing something but I can't tell you what. I don't believe he would have ever looked for her so when they met again it was kind of fate I guess. I hated that he was so hot and cold to her but he did have some serious mental issues and survivors guilt to boot. He was racing his brother in cars when the brother crashed and died. His parents won't talk to him and he blames himself. The heroine meets him on the anniversary of his death, they have unprotected sex and she of course gets pregnant. She goes to tell him and he pretends he doesn't remember her. It was bad but it could have been much more dramatic I think with a different writer. One year later She sees him, he sees baby and he knows. He doesn't offer to marry her like HP guys usually do but wants 50 50 custody. He also tells her that she should have tried harder to tell him. I just wanted to smack him upside the head at that point. Plus of course while she was carrying his baby he was out playing international playboy even though it was starting to bore him. I just didn't feel their love. It was just meh. I wouldn't read it again.

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars because hero was constantly blowing hot and cold. It was annoying after a while.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and angst filled romance.

Wasn't to happy with the hero at first, but he redeemed himself.

Heroine was sweet and strong.

The romance was a little slow at the beginning but picked up after a bit.

Pleasent read.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read but not great. Like my friend lily said it lacked passion.

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
wanted more passion but it was good .

[*CJ* · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Secret Kept from the Italian" is the story of Maisey and Antonio.

Hmmmm..Nah.

In this tale, we have a h who is a cleaner and has a ONS with a very sad and drunk hero who's celebrating his late brother's death anniversary. He pours his heart out to her, only to realize next morning, Oh shi!, bad Antonio and decides to ignore the heroine when she returns later with a life changing news..
One year later, H finds the h again and realizes she has a baby, and ding ding, it is his. He soon *cough* forces *cough* coerces her to move to Milan with him, so they can have this shared custody agreement, but things become more complicated than what is expected.

Positives
-One hot sex scene- check
-Cute baby Ella- check
-Occasional bursts of spine in h- check

Now for the glaring negatives
OTT self pitying and whiny coward hero- check
Emotionally blackmailing the wuss heroine- check
Unsatisfying grovel- check

Meh
SWE
2/5

[Zubee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this for a long time but forgot about it ... and a few days ago I was trying to remember the name of this very book ... and somehow came across a review ... and got to reading straight away ...
Angsty and passionate ... secret baby and a H who acts like a nematode ... but he had his reasons .. he was such a very sad person ... loved how he healed with the h and his little baby ...

[iamGamz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maisie met Antonio while she worked as an office cleaner. It was the anniversary of his brother’s death. They spoke a few sentences to each other. He offered her a drink. He was already mostly drunk. After the minimum of protest, she accepted the drink and then gave her virginity to a man she met ten minutes earlier.

Yeah.

Ok

She got pregnant from her one night stand. Went to Antonio’s office to tell him. Got the brush off. He pretended he didn’t know her. She walked away hurt and humiliated.

A year later they met again while she was working as a waitress at a function he was attending. He remembered her then. Then he saw her with a baby that she handed off to some guy. He started doing mental calculations and realized that the baby might be his.

Yup. His baby.

Now he’s making demands. She agrees to move to Italy for 6 months so he could get to know his 3 month old daughter.

When they get there, Antonio becomes Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sweet and kind one minute and cold and distant the next. He had issues surrounding his brother’s death that a good therapist would have helped him resolve. But no, he’s emotionally damaged and is making other lives misery because of it.

The book was ok. There was too much “hot and cold” by Antonio. Maisie was also too much of an enabler. She needs to stand up to Antonio and demand answers. Instead she let him walk all over her and then her all angry with her.

The book was ok. It didn’t bore me to tears. I liked Maisie for the most part. The end of the last chapter was a bit sacchariney. Just too much sweet for me. Otherwise, I can recommend it.

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secret Kept From The Italian is a pretty gorgeous flirty cover that I read in paperback. Maisie Dobson is a night time cleaner on second floor of an office building, while at music school. I felt sorry for Maise, she has had a tough life with her parents dying suddenly. Maise has a kind heart she had to be a mother and father to her younger brother and he has made something of himself. While Maise is cleaning at the office building she gets talking to a good looking man, Antonio Rossi who is working late and drinking whiskey. But he's wealthy, powerful and can have any woman he wants. I like reading fiction novels about men who thinks they can have any woman that they want, but in real life I do hate it when men think that they can have any woman that they want. Antonio came across to me as being inconsiderate to boast a bit too much to a young cleaner who is scrapping by about his wealth and that he has three homes a yacht and a private jet. Beware a shocking scene is about to take place between Maise and Antonio Rossi. Loved this story with business mixing with flirting and more.

[Laur Laur · Rating 2 out of 5]

This hero walked away way too many times for my taste. He seemed pretty content with his baggage, and if a heroine is going to beg for love, I want it to be because the hero has misjudged her, not because he's emotionally damaged.

[Ishara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but I've read better from this author.

[Riz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars

Liked it!

[Susan in Perthshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored this story and I loved Maisie and Antonio. It was sensitive, emotional, moving and real.

Ivy H has written a superb review and I recommend you read it - she says everything I wanted to say but so much better.

If the epilogue had been set 5 years down the road I would have given it 5 stars but I’m knocking half a star off. I like this writer, I must read more of hers.

[Scherezade00]

En realidad no lo estoy leyendo sino escuchando. Luego les cuento por el momento ya saben un millonario, extranjero seduciendo una chica de la limpieza.

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking up from the table she’s serving, waitress Maisie Dobson is horrified to meet the intense gaze of Antonio Rossi, merciless billionaire and father of her child! Rejected after one mind-blowing night, Maisie kept her unexpected pregnancy a secret. Antonio’s determined to claim his daughter, but their connection reminds Maisie that she still has to protect her heart—because billionaires don’t wed waitresses…do they?

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heroine Maisie and the hero Antonio met while she was cleaning an office building and have a one night stand. Maisie has consequences and tries to tell Antonio, but he pulls the "do I know you?" She kept quiet regarding her baby. She is waitressing an event when a customer becomes obnoxious at the table Antonio is sitting at as they meet again. He hasn't gotten her out of his system and follows her to where her brother has just brought the baby to be fed and then to take the baby back home. Antonio puts 2 and 2 together and figures out the baby must be his and waits for Maisie in the lobby. Then the real fun begins as Maisie and Antonio come to terms of having a child together. I enjoyed this book and would recommend to those who have to have the Happy Ever After.

[Callie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t feel much for this book.

It was the classic premise of the innocent heroine and a jerk hero. He’s vulnerable, they have a ons, then he pretends he doesn’t remember her when she tries to tell him she’s pregnant.

I really hated that he never would’ve looked for her or seen her again if not by chance, and of course she was a virgin and he was a playboy. 🙄

I was glad there wasn’t body betraying syndrome too bad when they meet a year later, but the heroine was definitely still too nice.

Yes, the hero has a lot of emotional baggage and trauma, but she easily forgives his distant behavior way too many times. Almost until the end of the book she is unsure if she can trust him or if he could ever love her which wasn’t the best romance to me.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

H/h had sex in the office at night the first night they met. The next morning he had regrets and pretended to be asleep when she left. A couple of weeks later she realizes she's pregnant and goes to his office. He pretends he doesn't recognize her.

A year later she's working as a waitress and spills wine on a customer because she sees him. He defends her. He brother brings her baby to the restaurant for breast feeding and H realizes he's a father.

Backstory is that H and his younger brother were racing at night in the rain and his brother died. He (and his parents) blamed the H. Messed him up. And then the baby gets meningitis while with him and he blames himself.

[Lea & Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read!

A woman discovering her strengths and weaknesses, facing the challenges of motherhood is a book worth reading. So tired of weak , clingy women so this book was a delight with a credible storyline and characters. Thank you.

[Si · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good until she blamed him at the end. And knowing his past it was unfair especially because the sickness the kid had was something I know can be deceptive at first. Just for that it's a no reread for me and lost a star maybe even two.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both stories ended up being quite mediocre but I preferred Melanie Milburne's Claimed for the Billionaire's Convenience (even though the author was clearly setting up a story with a side character Sabrina and that one sounded better).

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secret Kept from the Italian

His past keeps him from trusting and loving anyone. Her past has made her stronger. Both have issues with life. But is he willing to open up to a new life that includes others that could help him to love?

[Virna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I never quite felt a love connection between Antonio's and Maisie , I felt the lust for sure and at times I felt like that was overdone. I enjoyed this read.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mehh.. no connection

[Misnoawl · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ***

[cathedralwindow85 of BRISEIS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute read. Skanky dress tho. $3.93 at CVS Pharmacy.

[Stacey Houllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great quick short read. It is a story of love , trust and learning to recover after the loss of loved one.