Nate cocked his head to one side. “You know, that does sound right. I think his daughter was named Emily. I don’t remember her at all, though. I think she is quite young.”

Lady Emily was getting married.

Lord Bryant’s Lady Emily.

Or someone was confident enough in her marriage to predict it in the paper.

If the article was the result of someone trying to force Lord Bryant into marrying Lady Emily, that would definitely lead to cursing.

She struggled to swallow as she reread the article. The marriage was supposed to take place in three weeks—almost no time at all. She sank down into Lord Bryant’s chair. Lord Bryant was a rake, but he had spent hours helping her and had asked for nothing in return. She had truly come to see him as an ally and friend. He had mentioned several times how delicate his situation with Lady Emily was. For all Diana knew, his time spent with Diana could have thrown off whatever balancing act he was trying to manage and may have even contributed to this surprise attack by Lady Emily’s family.

She crumpled the corner of the paper she was holding. Last week, she had met and spoken with Lady Emily, after Lord Bryant had specifically asked her not to. What sort of problems had that caused? She stood and paced in front of the chair. She needed to do something about this. But what? She couldn’t exactly visit Lady Emily or her family and ask them to release Lord Bryant. She wouldn’t even be admitted to the drawing room of a marquess’s home.

She threw the paper down on the chair, marched to the coatrack, and grabbed her coat.

“Where do you think you are going?” Nate asked from behind her.

“I need to visit someone.”

“Lord Bryant?” His footsteps sounded behind her. He would reach her any moment. “I will not have you going to him.”

“I won’t be visiting Lord Bryant.”

“Then whom?”

Whom? That was the question. The only person she had ever heard Lord Bryant talk about, when it came to his affairs with women, was Mrs. Cuthbert. Diana had met Mrs. Cuthbert once. She would allow Diana a visit, and she might have some ideas to save Lord Bryant from a marriage he most obviously didn’t want. Poor Lady Emily . . . that young girl couldn’t have done anything to deserve being thrown into such a scandal. If Lord Bryant ran off, as he was sure to do, her reputation would be ruined. Diana had to find a way to protect both of them. Blast Lord Bryant and his scandals. Couldn’t he behave like everyone else in London?

As soon as the thought filled her mind, she knew it was wrong. Lord Bryant was nothing like the other men in London. He was like a dragon among fish—beautiful and mysterious to the point of lore and capable of burning the hearts of anyone near him. You couldn’t love a dragon, nor could you get close to one, but you wouldn’t wish it to become a fish.