‘‘I saw that sonofabitch go flying out of here like a bomb was ticking.’’ Ethan intended to have a nice long talk with Steve as well. Soon, he promised himself grimly as he pushed Grace into the truck.

‘‘Mollie—she called. She’s in labor. I told him to go.’’

‘‘You would. Damn idiot woman.’’

The statement, delivered with such bubbling fury, stopped the trembling that had just begun, cut off the babbling gratitude she’d been about to express. He’d saved her, was all she’d been able to think, like a knight in a fairy tale. But the thin, romantic mist that had been shimmering over her still-reeling brain evaporated.

‘‘I’m certainly not an idiot.’’

‘‘You sure as hell are.’’ He whipped the truck out of the lot, spitting gravel and knocking Grace back against her seat. His rare but formidable temper was in full swing, and there was no stopping it until it had blown itself out.

‘‘That man was the idiot,’’ she shot back. ‘‘I was just doing my job.’’

‘‘Doing your job damn near got you raped. The son of a bitch had his hand under your skirt.’’

She could still feel it, the way it had groped at her. Nausea bubbled up to her throat and was ruthlessly swallowed down. ‘‘I’m aware of that. Things like that don’t happen at Shiney’s.’’

‘‘It just did happen at Shiney’s.’’

‘‘It doesn’t draw that kind of clientele usually. He wasn’t local. He was—’’

‘‘He was there.’’ Ethan swung into her drive, hit the brakes, then shut the engine off with a hard flick of the wrist. ‘‘And so were you. Mopping up some bar in the middle of the goddamn night, by yourself. And what were you going to do when you were done? Walk almost two damn miles?’’

‘‘I could have gotten a ride, except—’’

‘‘Except you’re too stiff-necked to ask for one,’’ he finished. ‘‘You’d rather limp home in those mile-high heels than ask a favor.’’

She had sneakers in her bag, but decided it wouldn’t help to mention it. Her bag, she remembered, which was back at the unlocked pub. Now she would have to go back first thing in the morning, get her things, and lock up before the boss checked.

‘‘Well, thank you very much for your opinion of my failings, and the lecture. And the damn ride home.’’ She shoved at the door, only to have Ethan grab her arm and yank her back.

‘‘Where the hell do you think you’re going?’’

‘‘I’m going home. I’m going to soak my stiff-neck and my idiot-brain and go to bed.’’

‘‘I haven’t finished.’’ ‘‘