“A good one,” Nate said.

Diana rushed forward. She hadn’t been able to finish her statement about Lord Bryant. He was all of those terrible things, but he also, somehow, wasn’t. “Nate, I asked him to be here.”

“Asked is a very kind way to put it,” Lord Bryant drawled.

Diana tightened her grip on Nate’s arm just as he cocked it back.

“He is teasing. Lord Bryant wants to rile you up. You aren’t serious, are you, Lord Bryant?” Diana shook her head from side to side slowly, willing him to agree with her and decrease the tension in the office.

“When a woman comes to a man’s home, begging him to ruin her, only to demand that he merely sit in her office all day long, it begs the question: who, exactly, is the tease in this situation?”

Nate turned to her. “You did what?”

Blast Lord Bryant. And blast Nate. The vote was in less than a week. Could he not have trusted her for one more week? But first and foremost, blast Lord Bryant. How could he tell her brother what she had done? “It sounds a lot worse than it was.”

If she thought her words would calm him, she was very wrong. His chest puffed out, and his hand fisted at his waist. “He speaks the truth?”

Mrs. Oliver’s pen dropped, landing with a clank upon her desk. She hastily picked it up and busied herself, scratching away at her desk, her head down, pretending not to hear. Lord Bryant was still at the door, this time with a foolish grin on his face. No matter how many points Diana had won in the past, he had just outdone her. There would be no coming back from this.

“I needed help, Nate.”

“Then you should have asked me, Diana!” Nate shook his head and pounded a fist on his chest. “You should have asked me. Why did I have to get a letter from Mr. Broadcreek, of all men, telling me that Lord Bryant was spending far too much time with you?”

Of course Mr. Broadcreek had written to him. She gritted her teeth. Would the man never give up? “You were in Baimbury with Grace. You should still be there now. I have everything under control.”

“If this man is in our office, nothing is under control.”

“It is, though. It is in much more control than it was a few weeks ago, thanks to Lord Bryant.”

“Lord Bryant will never have my thanks.”

Lord Bryant shrugged. “I never asked for it.”

“This doesn’t concern you,” Diana and Nate turned and said simultaneously.

“What was so wrong that you needed Lord Bryant, of all people, to rush in and save the day?” Nate asked, his arm still tense under her hands.

“Mr. Broadcreek asked me to marry him.”

Nate sucked in a tight breath at this announcement. “Then tell him no, the cad.”

“I did.” Diana took a deep breath. “I told him no a hundred times, but he simply couldn’t believe a woman could know her own mind. And not only that, he became a huge impediment to getting any work done. He knew if he delayed Mrs. Richardson’s railroad line long enough for its reputation to be ruined, Parliament wouldn’t give another grant for the next railroad line. Without securing another grant, Richardson Rail is worth next to nothing. Either way, it would be a win for Mr. Broadcreek.”