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off the cart, hopping back down onto the cobbled street. Removing the bear from between her teeth, she grinned and dusted it off in triumph, feeling as if she had climbed a mountain in Tibet for it.
    Not that she would ever leave the country or climb anything outside of a few flights of stairs.
    A grubby, hairy-infested hand seized her wrist hard, making her jump. “Put it back,” the bearded man rasped, his breath as rotten as his teeth. “Before I make you regret you have tits.”
    She gasped. “You, sir, are as rude as you are disgusting.” She tried shaking the man’s hand off, while still holding onto the bear. “Now let go! I paid for it!”
    The creditor grabbed the bear with his other hand and narrowed his gaze. “This here be the property of the debts you owe. Two shillings isn’t going to save this bear or anything else in the cart. Now unless you’re willing to fuck every last one of us right here on the street, you’d best put it back.”
    If she wasn’t already wrangling for the bear with both hands, she would have smacked him into the street and out of England for such language. “Let go or I swear I’ll swing at far more than your pea-sized bollocks, you-you…rumpot!” Thankfully her son wasn’t within hearing distance, because she wasn’t being a very good role model. She tightened her hold on the bear and gritted her teeth in an effort to hold on, praying the thing wouldn’t rip in half. “Now let go!”
    “Not until you pay the debt!” The creditor kept tugging on the bear.
    “One would think I owe you a hundred pounds. And I don’t. Now let go of the damn bear!”
    A male figure loomed beside them. “Is there a problem?” The tone was like velvet, yet it was equally edged with steel.
    “ Yes ,” she piped, still frantically tugging on the toy. “I paid two shillings for this bear. Two !”
    “But you owe me five pounds!” the creditor yelled, sending spittle toward Leona. “ Five !”
    “ Minus two shillings ,” she sternly corrected, swiping at her face with her free hand. “Which means…I keep the bear. Now stop spitting on me!”
    “I’ll do more than spit on you, you damn—”
    She winced and held up the plush bear rigidly between them, half expecting to be struck.
    It didn’t happen.
    The creditor was yanked back hard and shoved against a nearby lamppost by a massive figure dressed in a great coat.
    Leona blinked, awkwardly lowering the bear to better see.
    The stranger, who was well over six feet, held the creditor firmly by the throat with one hand while digging into his own coat pocket with the other. His large gloved hand retrieved a five pound bank note which he crushed and tucked into the man’s left nostril. “There. Now she owes you nothing. Carry everything back in for the lady before I introduce you to the back of my fist.”
    Leona bit back a smile. She had never seen anyone shove money into someone’s nostril before. Creative.
    The creditor stilled, his gaze locked on the looming figure that still held him by the throat against the lamppost. “I’ll…have my men put everything back,” the man wheezed, the bank note in his nose twitching.
    “You damn well better,” the stranger ground out. “ Now get to it .”
    Releasing the creditor with a rough push toward the direction of the cart, the gentleman let out a long audible breath. He paused as if realizing she was watching and swung back to her, his dark hair falling into his eyes. He cleared his throat. Adjusting the smalt-colored waistcoat that shifted against his broad chest, he shoved his hair out of his eyes and set his massive shoulders. “People these days have no manners.” His voice broke with huskiness as he intently searched her face. “Are you all right?”
    Leona’s stomach flipped as she pressed the bear against her chest in disbelief. Tally-ho. It appeared Hercules had a brother.

“Are you all right, madam?” the man repeated.
    Leona gaped up at the face of the unexpected