“I don’t mind at all. As I told your husband, you are welcome anytime.”

“You may not want to offer that so lightly.” Lady Yolten had wandered to the table that held their maps and was flipping through them. “I’m so very fascinated by the railroad. And even more so, I’m fascinated by you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, a young single woman working day in and day out in industry. You are quite the talk of the town.”

Diana wrinkled her nose. “I suppose I was aware of that. I hadn’t heard of any such talk being positive.”

Lady Yolten’s eyes glowed. “I assure you the women in my circle are positively inspired by you. The enjoyable ones, anyway.”

“I can attest to that,” added Lord Yolten. “You should have seen Penelope squeal when I received your invitation.”

“Pshaw.” Lady Yolten playfully gave her husband a push on the shoulder. “I never squeal; it is so undignified.” Then, turning toward Diana, she put a hand to the side of her mouth and whispered, “I did. I definitely squealed.”

Diana struggled to keep a straight face.

Lady Yolten left the map table and came to Diana’s desk. She leaned forward on her arms like Lord Bryant often did. Her eyes were on fire. “I have a thousand questions.”

Oh dear.

“How do you get all those rough tradesmen to listen to you?” Didn’t Lady Yolten’s family come from trade? Diana was used to hearing negative comments about people in trade, but she was surprised to hear it from Lady Yolten. “They never took me seriously, no matter how many ideas I had.”

Ah, that would explain it. “Well, I suppose it helps that I am the one in charge of payroll.”

Lady Yolten laughed, a bright sound that Diana had already become accustomed to, even though she had only been in the room a few moments. No wonder Lord Yolten was so taken with his wife. She created an almost frantic energy all around her. What would Lord Bryant have been like while he was pursuing her? Would he have smiled more? Surely he wouldn’t have gone home each night and sulked in his study like the night Diana had found him at home. Not with a woman like this in his life.

“That’s all I needed, then—for Papa to allow me to hand out payroll.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Can you imagine?” She slid her fingers down her husband’s arm and wrapped her hand around his. “Papa didn’t think I could handle reading a newspaper. He would have bled through his eyes before allowing me to do anything with the business.”

Diana dipped her head to one side. “I came about it with extenuating circumstances, I assure you.”

“Your family approves, though?”

Did they? Mama still didn’t know what she was doing. Not completely. She knew she had been helping Nate and later Charlotte, but she didn’t know the extent of it. Nate had just found out, and although he was put out that she hadn’t asked for his help, he hadn’t insisted she sell him the company or leave everything to him. She wasn’t sure that counted as approval, but perhaps it did count as trust, which was at least as important.