Diana hated the way her stomach sank at those words. Lord Bryant wasn’t a proper candidate for marriage, of course, but a small part of her didn’t want to believe it. If only he weren’t such a rake. If only he weren’t so fickle . . . She had seen sides of him that were beautiful, and they had nothing to do with his face.

She shook her head to clear it. Lord Bryant was what he was. There was no escaping the facts, no matter what Diana wanted to believe. “Why, though? Why is he so opposed to marriage?”

“Marriage didn’t suit him.”

“Could he not bear to stay faithful to one woman? Didn’t he love his wife?”

Mrs. Cuthbert tsked. “You think too little of my Lord Bryant. Of course he loved Rachel. He loved her fiercely. If he hadn’t loved her, life would be better for him now, wouldn’t it?”

Rachel.

His wife had a name—of course she did. Rachel. A name that rolled off the tongue and spoke of gentleness. Nothing like Diana, the goddess of the hunt and wild animals.

Diana had started feeling unsettled as soon as Lord Bryant stormed out of her office, but now the sickness worsened. She had thought . . . she had hoped . . . she had wondered if perhaps Lord Bryant hadn’t cared for his wife. She had hoped if he could just fall in love with a woman, perhaps he would change his ways. If he had loved Rachel and still became the man he was today, where did that leave Diana?

Exactly where she had always been. One more name on an ever-growing list of women scandalized by Lord Bryant before he forgot them and left on his merry way.

Mrs. Cuthbert had been a flurry of movement since she walked into the room, but now she stilled. Her eyes narrowed as she measured Diana from top to bottom. “How well do you know Lord Bryant?”

Diana cleared her throat. Mrs. Cuthbert’s stillness put her nerves on edge. “How well does anyone know Lord Bryant?” Diana asked. Mrs. Cuthbert’s only response was to laugh. Diana swallowed. “But you know him . . .”

“Perhaps better than most.”

“Why does Lady Emily’s marriage bother him so much?”

“Lord Bryant doesn’t trust easily, Miss Barton. I’m afraid I will not speak on this subject anymore until I understand exactly what your relationship is with him.”

“I have no relationship with him. Not really.”

“That is exactly what he told me.”

Lord Bryant had mentioned her to Mrs. Cuthbert? Diana took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “Then it is true.” She reached a side table nearby and used it to steady herself.

“You say that, but I don’t quite believe you. I’m not sure I believed him either.”

“Mrs. Cuthbert, I know exactly what Lord Bryant is. I would be a fool to think anything with him could be permanent.”

“You are a smart woman. I see that. But I will say this: when Lord Bryant told me there was no relationship between the two of you, he said it in the exact manner that you just used.” Her eyes snapped to the hand Diana was using to support herself, then back to Diana’s face. “As if he were trying to convince himself.”