“If I did paperwork, it wouldn’t be relaxing. I tried it once—remember?”

She did. She remembered everything.

“There are plenty of other places for you to relax.” Nate placed both hands at his waist. “For some reason, my sister believes you have helped her somehow. I will not go so far as to thank you, but I will refrain from physically throwing you out. Please leave and never come back.”

Lord Bryant groaned as he turned to his side, and then rose to a standing position. “As I said, this office brings me a measure of peace. I’ll stop coming only when Diana asks me to stop.”

Nate made a sound like a roar, and Diana jumped in front of him before he could do Lord Bryant any more damage. Nate slammed into her, not hard enough to cause any injury, but it did cause her breath to leave her lungs. He stopped and grabbed Diana by the shoulders to steady her and then whipped his head up to scowl at Lord Bryant. “She is Miss Barton to you.”

Diana reached for Nate’s hand on her shoulder and clamped down on it. “He calls me Miss Barton. Truly, he does. He is trying to get under your skin. For some reason, he doesn’t mind provoking another blow. But I won’t have it. Not in my office.”

This situation needed to end. Lord Bryant’s nose was swollen, his cravat askew. In the past two months, he had spent many days helping her, asking her for nothing in return. Here in her office, he had seemed like a very different person than she had seen him anywhere else. He wasn’t haggard and demeaning like he had been that first night in his study, nor was he haughty and imposing like she had seen him at the ball or the bookstore. This office did seem to relax him. And if that was the only thing she could do for him, she wasn’t about to take it away. But it would be best for everyone if he came to relax another day.

Diana gently shrugged Nate away from her but stayed between the two gentlemen. Nate’s chest was puffed out, and his arms were pulled back as if at ready. She stepped more firmly in front of Lord Bryant and met his eyes, placing herself between the two men. “You are always welcome in this office.” Then she turned to Nate. “And Lord Bryant is welcome to call me Diana. I understand it brings no real attachment with it, and because of that, he does me no harm. You will not strike him for it, for he is my friend.”

Nate huffed behind her, but she ignored it. Lord Bryant blinked and then placed a hand behind his neck. For the first time since she had seen him in their office moments ago, the nervous, bounding energy he had brought with him faded. His eyes seemed to hold a question, but he didn’t ask it. Hopefully being called a friend was not an impertinent discourtesy.