“Jesus,” he muttered, holding her close. “Abe’s fucking torn up. I didn’t know what to do, so I grabbed David. He’s always been able to calm Abe down.”

Kit could see that happening—David was so stable. “Where are they?”

“David took him for a walk.” He tightened his arms around her, his hard, muscled body moving just enough to tantalize. “We’ll keep him away from Jeremy Vance for another two hours and that’s it. No drama.”

“Two hours?”

“Sarah told Abe she and Jeremy are leaving via private chopper tonight.” He ran his hand down her back, his cheek pressed against her temple. “Now, will you dance with me, Kit?”

The way he held her—there was such tenderness in it that he confused her all over again.

 “Yes,” she said, surrendering to the magic of this weekend.

And every beat of her heart, it whispered… be with me.

An hour after the best dance of his life, Noah was sitting on the couch watching a rerun of a football game and psyching himself up to take a sleeping pill when there was a bang on the side of the bus.

“I’ll see what it is.” Kit, dressed in a short nightgown over which she’d wrapped a kimono-style robe that reached her ankles, ducked out from the kitchenette where she’d been grabbing a glass of water.

She was so fucking beautiful.

That he could’ve handled. He’d have screwed her and moved on. But Kit, she had a heart and that heart cared about him. He didn’t understand it, but he was going to hold on to her care as long as humanly possible.

“Wait.” He beat her to the door. “No chances, okay?”

A scowl darkened her face at the reminder of her stalker, but she nodded and stepped back, letting him open the door. The cause of the disturbance was clear even in the post-midnight darkness. Abe had another man shoved up against the bus, one arm to the guy’s neck and his fist cocked back to smash into the man’s face.

Jumping out barefoot, Noah slammed out his hand and caught Abe’s fist before it would’ve pulverized the other guy’s mug. He didn’t care about the stranger. He cared about Abe. The keyboardist was dangerously strong—if he’d landed that punch, he could’ve done serious damage, ended up in jail for grievous bodily harm.

The security guys Noah had hired to spell Butch and Casey were as big, but they were following orders and staying in position on either end of the bus. He’d made it clear they weren’t to leave their posts for anything short of an emergency. All Kit’s stalker needed was a single opportunity, a momentary lapse in their concentration.

He was aware of Kit jumping out and flying toward Molly and Fox’s bus next door. Abe, meanwhile, was pushing against Noah’s hold, causing Noah’s biceps to bulge and his body strain to hold position. “Fuck it, Abe, pull back,” he gritted out as the man Abe was holding against the bus began to choke.

“Abe, stop!”

Only at the ragged feminine cry did he become aware of another person in the shadows. She’d been kind of crumpled against Fox’s bus, which was why Noah hadn’t noticed her at first, but now she tugged on Abe’s arm. “Stop!”

Shit, it was Sarah. That meant there was a good chance the man Abe was trying to kill was her fiancé. Noah had never understood Abe and Sarah’s relationship, but he’d felt Abe’s muscles flicker at Sarah’s voice, so he didn’t tell her to back off.

“Abe!” Sarah cried again. “Stop it!”

Making a wordless sound of rage, Abe wrenched back just as Fox appeared. The man behind Noah began to cough and rasp at the same time. “I’m going to fucking call the cop—”

Abe roared and would’ve come toward the idiot if Fox hadn’t body-slammed their bandmate into the side of the bus. Leaving the lead singer to handle Abe, Noah turned to the man—what the hell was his name?—and said, “Shut the fuck up.”

The patrician-faced man flinched at Noah’s ice-cold voice but squared his shoulders nonetheless. “I’m pressing charges.”

“Yeah?” Noah wanted to sock the asshole himself. “You do that and I’m going to release the security-camera footage of Sarah’s face and how it got that way.” He’d glimpsed the bruises, the bloody lip when she came over to try to stop Abe.

Jeremy Vance, that was his name, swallowed. “There’s no footage.”

“You sure? After that shit the last asshole tried to pull with Molly and Fox? There sure as fuck are security cameras pointed at all external areas.” It was no lie—the cameras were mounted discreetly on different parts of the buses.

The shithead looked unsure. “Your primitive friend isn’t worth my time,” he said at last in a voice that screamed wealth and breeding.

It had zero impact on Noah; he came from the same cesspool.

“Sarah.” Jeremy Vance settled his suit coat as if Abe hadn’t almost torn off a sleeve. “Come here. We’re leaving.”

Noah glanced over his shoulder to see Kit standing with her arm around Sarah, who was still in her party dress. Abe’s ex-wife was shivering, her eyes huge with shock. When Abe ripped off his jacket and threw it at Kit, she caught it, put it gently around Sarah.

“Sarah.” Jeremy’s tone was what another man might use calling a dog.

Abe shoved out again, Fox slamming him back down. Turning to Jeremy, Noah said, “Leave now, or I’ll break your face myself. Come near Sarah again, and I won’t stop Abe from killing you.” And because he understood what held value for men like Jeremy, he added a final icy warning. “You ever even whisper about charges against Abe, and I’ll make damn certain you’re known as the wimp who pounds on women—I’m sure that’ll go down great on the charity board and country club circuit.” He curled his lip. “I not only know your world, I’m part of a family that fucking rules it.” Noah might hate his parents, but he had no compunction about using their connections if those connections would protect a friend.

It was the least Robert and Virginia could do for the son they hadn’t protected.

The bastard paled and walked off at last. Noah didn’t think he’d say a word about this, but he was glad to see Thea appear with David, Molly obviously having run to get the other couple.

“What happened?” Thea asked, taking in everything at a glance, her phone already in hand.

Neither Abe nor Sarah said a word, so Noah filled Thea in as much as possible given what he’d seen. Sarah’s face told its own story.

Going up to Sarah, Thea said, “You’ll hate me for this, Sarah, but I’m going to take photos of your face.” She did it before the other woman could object.

Sarah flinched, her trembling becoming full-out shaking. “I don’t want anyone to see.” It was a thin whisper.

“No one will.” Thea’s voice was fierce. Reaching out, she cupped Sarah’s bruised face in gentle hands. “This is your insurance against the bastard. He won’t be coming near you again.”

Sarah gave a jerky nod.

“Let’s get you inside,” Molly said to Sarah and waved everyone into her and Fox’s bus.

Staying behind to lock his and Kit’s bus, Noah went over to one of the bodyguards. “Did anyone else come this way? Anyone with a camera? Crew or others who might’ve seen what happened?”

The tall, heavyset former wrestler shook his head. “No one. I saw the woman and that fuckwit head down from the party tent, and I kept an eye on them since they were cutting through your area. Seemed like they started arguing a few feet from your bus, then they were in the shadows and heading away from this section.” His jaw went grim. “I didn’t see him hit her or I would’ve intervened—counts as an emergency in my book.”

“Mine too.”

“Abe was about a minute behind them. I heard the sound of his voice and then he hauled the other guy back to slam him against your bus.” Touching a finger to his earpiece, the guard said, “We’ve got some partiers coming this way. I’ll head them off.”