Stuart laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it. But if a situation becomes too dangerous, I hope you’ll let me live up to the word I gave your brother.”
Norah twisted the corner of her mouth into a mock look of resignation. “If I must.”
Stuart shook his head as he let her hands go and took up her arm again. “You’re a force to be reckoned with, Norah Parker, and somehow I think Jeremy has forgotten that.”
Norah tried to concentrate on Stuart’s words instead of how cold her hands felt under her gloves without his wrapped around them. “Jeremy forgot quite a bit in that time before his arrest.”
Stuart’s face darkened as he led them down the road. “That he did.”
They were quiet a moment, and Norah thought on that time. It was odd, the way Jeremy had changed so suddenly. Her father said it was a last attempt at hanging onto boyhood, but Norah hadn’t been so certain.
“Don’t you think it was strange, the way Jeremy acted all those months before the robbery? How quickly he changed?” she asked.
“It was. I never could determine what was so intriguing about those men he befriended, unless he enjoyed losing all his money and staggering about—” He cut off his words mid-sentence. “I apologize. Norah, I never should have—”
He looked so embarrassed, she had to laugh. “Stuart, are you apologizing for offending my delicate sensibilities?”
“I, well . . . Yes, I suppose I am.” He straightened his shoulders even as his face went ruddy.
They turned the corner, entering a part of town with more businesses and shops. Norah nodded to a couple she recognized from church as they passed.
“You needn’t worry about that,” she said. “I know Jeremy was indulging in some unsavory habits.”
When Stuart didn’t answer, she looked up at him. His gaze was fixed on something across the road.
“What is it?” she finally asked, curious as to what had him so riveted.
“That’s one of the men Jeremy was spending so much time with before . . .” Stuart trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.
Norah squinted through the darkness. A man leaned against the wall of one of the many saloons in town, the lamplight from inside sending a glow over his features. Norah never would have recognized him, but of course, she’d never met any of Jeremy’s supposed newer friends. Looking at this man now, she was torn between curiosity and a healthy dose of wariness.
“Do you trust me?”
Norah tore her gaze from the man across the road to meet Stuart’s eyes. “Yes,” she said without hesitation.
And then, without a word, Stuart began to lead her across the road—directly toward the man in front of the saloon.
