His face fell. ‘Nup. Which is killing me, cos it’s been dumping up there. Incredible pow.’

‘So why don’t you go then?’

He shrugged but didn’t reply. Clover watched him. She couldn’t understand why he . . .

The penny dropped. ‘Is it because Kit’s not going?’

He looked away.

‘But he wouldn’t stop you from going, surely? You’re a free agent.’

‘Just doesn’t seem right, going without him,’ he shrugged.

Clover stared, baffled. Why did Beau have to stay in, just because Kit was in hiding?

‘Is Kit okay?’

‘Oh yeah, he’s totally fine.’

‘So then . . .’

‘He’s just not wanting to be out at the moment. Doesn’t want eyes on him.’

‘Understandable,’ she said quietly. But that made it even less acceptable to force Beau to stay in too.

‘Especially when we don’t know who those guys were yet. Who’s the enemy, y’know?’

‘Yes. It’s so awful.’

Beau bit his lip, his eyes narrowing as he pulled at a hangnail. ‘Kit can’t get over how they knew he was in there. He’s convinced it was a set-up. Like an ambush.’

Clover frowned. ‘I’m inclined to agree. It was very strange that they found him there. Someone must have tipped them off. But why would anyone want to set him up?’

‘To make him look bad. It’s practically a sport at the moment, kicking a man when he’s down.’ He looked up at her sharply as he realized what he’d said. It was thanks to her that Kit’s fame had become infamy. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that you . . .’ He flinched at the sight of her injuries again. ‘. . . Ari said no broken bones?’

‘No, I was lucky. Apparently!’ She gave her best attempt at a grin. Winking wasn’t an option. ‘Lucky Clover.’

But he missed the joke. ‘He could’a killed you. Kit said the guy was twice your size. If you’d hit your head going down . . .’

Her smile faded. ‘Well, I’m trying to focus on the positives.’

‘Are there any?’

She watched him. One of the very first things she had observed about Beau was that he was a conduit of his brother’s moods: when Kit was happy, Beau was energized and relaxed. When Kit was stressed or distracted (which was almost all the time, certainly in her presence), he was jumpy and restless. ‘Beau, is Kit really okay?’

‘Totally,’ he said quickly. ‘He’s just pissed off.’

‘It was spectacularly bad timing,’ she agreed, remembering Julian’s embargoed press release. ‘He’s lucky to have you looking out for him. I can see you two are really close.’