An Inconvenient Obsession Read Free

as if he wanted no one else to overhear. “But then again, I’d expect nothing less from a woman like you.”
    She reared back, reacting to the accusatory words delivered in such a low, intimate tone.
    His eyelids lowered seductively. “You’re too generous to allow sentimentality to override an infant’s need, aren’t you, Cate?”
    Too stunned to answer, she searched Ethan’s face for any hint of the boy she’d loved so long ago. There was none. Beneath the smooth, cultivated charm of wealth and power, no hint of his past self remained. Gone was the boy who looked as if he’d swallowed sunlight, as transparent and uncomplicated as the clear water along their beach. A stranger stood in his stead now, a hard, implacable stranger with no softness to him at all. “Why are you here?” she finally managed.
    A sardonic curve lifted one side of his mouth while his eyes dipped to caress her trembling lips. “Don’t you know?”
    This Ethan Hardesty was polished, elegant and powerful in a way that intimidated any who dared to intercept his path. Muscles swelled against the seams of his tailored tuxedo, his laborer’s shoulders and thighs brutally contained within the trappings of New York society’s evening attire.
    Platinum cuff links, the glint of an expensive watch and the hint of bristle beneath closely shaved skin gave him an untamed, dangerous edge that threatened to unravel her composure altogether.
    “No,” she whispered. She’d thought she’d never see him again. Ever. She’d sent him away, hurt him terribly and he’d left without a backward glance. “Why now?”
    “To be honest, I hadn’t planned to attend tonight,” he said, his low voice an intimate hum against her cheek. “But then I heard you were auctioning off the island, and I couldn’t resist.”
    Unable to bear his nearness any longer, she pulled from his grasp. “But surely you could buy any property you want.”
    He granted her no quarter, his gaze ensnaring hers yet again. “Yes.” He smiled faintly, and it was a cold smile that didn’t reach his arctic eyes. “But I thought you, of all people, would appreciate the memories I have of the place.”
    She swallowed, feeling the blood drain from her face. Her lips trembled as she remembered the last day they’d spent together on the island.
Their
island. The day that her world had ceased to hold any joy at all. “I don’t.”
    “I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but you’re even more stunning than I remembered,” he said, ignoring her reference to the past as if she hadn’t even spoken. “But still no ring, I see.”
    Her throat tightened. She’d paid the price for her cruelty, and sabotaged her future because of it. “No.”
    His stare, its vivid blue clouded with a skiff of storm, flared with an emotion she couldn’t read. “I can’t imagine you alone.”
    She ducked her head to disguise the upheaval the interchange wrought, inhaling sharply before she met his eyes again. “What about you? I take it you’re enjoying the life of an unattached playboy?”
    Cold cynicism tugged at his mouth. “You could say it has its … perks.”
    His offhand comment should not have made the pulse thrum high against her throat, but it did.
    “Dance with me,” he said softly, extending his other hand.
    She became aware of the music, of the shifting sounds of the crowd as couples abandoned their seats and moved toward the dance floor. “Thank you,” she lied as she avoided his hand, “but I can’t.”
    A black brow rose over flat, blue eyes. “I never took you for a coward, Cate.”
    “I’m not.”
    “It’s just a dance.” He moved closer to grip her arm just below her elbow, pressing her backward onto the edge of the polished wood floor. “For old time’s sake.”
    She tugged against his hold as she searched for escape along the stretch of display tables at the edge of the ballroom. Finding no viable excuse to refuse him, she mustered the courage to meet his gaze and