An Inconvenient Obsession by Natasha Tate

Shallow. Forgettable. Interchangeable.
    Once he’d satisfied the inconvenient desire for Cate, once he’d dispelled all traces of his adolescent dreams of animalpleasure, he could finally claim a measure of peace. He didn’t fool himself into thinking he’d find happiness. He certainly didn’t want love. Hell, he’d given up believing in such illusions years ago. No, it would be enough just to rid himself of her, and to prove, once and for all, that she meant nothing to him.
    They rode for several miles before Ethan’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “So tell me, Cate, why haven’t I seen you on the dressage circuit lately?”
    She dared a glance at him, finding his eyes unreadable and remote. She didn’t trust his expression. Didn’t trust his motives. How could he have kissed her so thoroughly and not be affected? Looking at him, at his expectant expression, it was as if the kiss had never happened.
    Yet she still felt the memory of his touch humming against her skin. She could
feel
the banked arousal simmering beneath the surface, sparking in the air between them. It made her uneasy. And she didn’t know how to navigate the minefield of the past without revealing her susceptibility to him. “I don’t compete anymore,” she finally said.
    “No?” He arched a disbelieving brow. “But horses and riding were your life.”
    You were my life.
“I developed other interests,” she said with a noncommittal shrug.
    His eyes narrowed, assessing. “It was because of your accident, wasn’t it?”
    “What?” she blurted.
    “Your accident,” he said softly. “That’s why you stopped riding.”
    “How do you know about that?”
What else did he know? Oh, God, what if he knew?
    “I understand it was touch and go for a while there, that you were lucky to have survived, let alone—”
    “I don’t know who supplied your information,” she interrupted. “But they exaggerated.” Forcing lightness, she swept a hand over her once-crippled legs. She couldn’t bear it if he knew about her damaged body and the scars that would forever handicap her future. She couldn’t bear his pity. “As you can see, I’m fine. No worse for the wear.”
    “But you stopped riding.”
    “I don’t like riding anymore.”
    A low rumble of laughter filled the air between them. “You. Don’t like riding.”
    She bristled beneath his sarcastic tone. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
    A cocked ebony brow told her all she needed to know. “You’re not a quitter, Cate.”
    “Spare me,” she warned with a huff of breath. “Father spent the last nine years of his life delivering variations on the whole ‘get back on the horse’ lecture. I’m immune to it.”
    He inclined his head, a subtle sign of reluctant acquiescence. “All right, then. We won’t talk about your sudden aversion for the horses you once loved. Why don’t you tell me about the men you’ve dated instead?”
    Before she could stop it, a startled laugh erupted from her throat. “Me? Dating? Ethan, if your sources were any good, you’d know the answer to that already.”
    His gaze intensified. “You’re right. Maybe I should have asked why you haven’t dated anyone seriously.” His expression turned dangerous. Seductive and sultry as his voice dipped low. “Have you been waiting for my return?”
    She averted her eyes while the truth curled within her stomach. “Of course not.”
    “Then why have you denied all the men who’ve pursued you? Surely there was a decent one somewhere in the bunch.”
    “I got tired of competing with my stock portfolio for aman’s attention.” She softened the bitter statement with a flutter of her hand. “It’s much easier to avoid the whole dating scene altogether than to try to divine a man’s true motives.”
    “You could always date a rich man.” He slanted her a smoldering glance, warming to the idea. “A man like me, for instance.”
    She laughed nervously at that, shaking her head. “Subtle. It’s