“A good night for walking.” As they stepped out on the street, she said, “I wasn’t entirely sure you’d come. I still have trouble believing that a virtual stranger is willing to help a scandalous woman.”

He offered his arm. “I have to do something to keep myself busy. I don’t like gambling or drinking or prize fights, and I don’t know many people in London, so doing something useful is appealing.”

She took his arm and they turned onto the street. A scattering of houses had outside lamps, but the full moon provided better light and cast dramatic shadows from iron railings and the occasional tree. No one else was on the street and the night was pleasantly peaceful. Kendra drew a deep breath, enjoying the night and the company. It had been a long time since she’d known simple peace. Lucas was a very relaxing man.

As they turned the next corner toward his cousins’ house, he said, “Kendra is an unusual name. Scottish?”

“Possibly. It’s a family name on my mother’s side. The vicar once told me that there was disagreement about whether the name is Anglo-Saxon, Welsh, or Scottish,” she explained. “It’s actually my middle name. I was christened Mary Kendra Douglas.”

“You didn’t feel like a Mary?” he said with a smile in his voice.

“By the time I could walk, it was decided that I was not well behaved enough to be a Mary, so I’ve been Kendra ever since,” she said with a laugh. How long had it been since she’d laughed?

A cloud drifted across the moon, darkening the street. “I wonder how long it will be until gas lighting is available throughout the city,” Lucas remarked.

“Quite a while, I imagine. Just think of all the pipes that will have to be laid.” Luckily in this neighborhood there were occasional streetlights and the pavement was kept fairly clean, but wise walkers still needed to be careful.

At the corner ahead, a pair of evergreen trees cast darker shadows across the pavement. She saw something moving in the shadows. A dog, perhaps?

An instant later, the peace was shattered as two figures, no, three, swaggered from the shadows, their figures dark and menacing. Kendra froze as the tallest man barked, “Give us whatever ya got and no one’ll get hurt!”

“No,” Lucas said mildly as he stepped between Kendra and the men. “We don’t want trouble, so I suggest you move along.”

“Can’t say I didn’t warn ya!” the leader said with a coarse laugh as he lunged forward with a cudgel and swung it at Lucas’s head.