Her patience dried up. ‘‘You already gave me a tip, now I’ll give you one. If you’re not out that door in ten seconds, I’m calling the cops. Instead of spending the night on your big hotel bed, you’ll spend it in a cell.’’

‘‘I got something else in mind.’’ He grabbed her, shoved her back against the bar, and ground himself against her. ‘‘See? You had it in mind, too. I saw the way you’ve been eyeing me. I’ve been waiting all night for some action.’’

She couldn’t get her knee up to ram it against what he was so proudly pushing against her. She couldn’t get her hands free to shove or scratch. Panic started as a tickle in her throat, then spread like a hot flood when he shot a hand under her skirt.

She was preparing to bite, scream, and spit when he was suddenly airborne. All she could do was stay pressed against the bar and stare at Ethan.

‘‘You all right?’’

He said it so quietly that her head bobbed up and down in automatic response. But his eyes weren’t quiet. There was rage in them, so primal and primitive that she shuddered.

‘‘Go on out and wait in the truck.’’

‘‘I—he—’’ Then she squealed. It would embarrass her to remember it later, but it was the only sound that came out of her tight throat when the man rushed at Ethan like a battering ram, head lowered, fists clenched.

She watched, staggered as Ethan simply pivoted, jabbed once, twice, and flicked the man off like a fly. Then he bent, grabbed the man by the shirtfront, and hauled him up on his rubbery legs.

‘‘You don’t want to be here.’’ His voice was steel with dangerously sharp edges. ‘‘Because if I see you here after the next two minutes, I’m going to kill you. And unless you got family or close personal friends, nobody’s going to give a damn.’’

He tossed him away, with what seemed to Grace no more than a twist of the wrist, and the man crashed into a table. Then Ethan turned his back as if the guy didn’t exist. But none of the stony fury had faded from his face when he looked at Grace.

‘‘I told you to go wait in the truck.’’

‘‘I have to— I need to—’’ She pressed a hand between her breasts and pushed up as if to shove the words clear. Neither of them looked as the man scrambled up and stumbled out the door. ‘‘I have to lock up. Shiney—’’

‘‘Shiney can go to hell.’’ Since it didn’t appear that she was going to move, Ethan grabbed her hand and hauled her to the door. ‘‘He ought to be horsewhipped for letting a lone woman lock up this place at night.’’

‘‘Steve—he—’’