He turned his back to the two of them and plodded back to his desk. He took each step carefully; he wouldn’t stumble while Miss Barton was watching. He reached the side of his desk and heard the study door shut. He immediately put a hand out to steady himself. After a few moments of deep breathing, he slid into his seat and shoved the brandy back in front of him. The drink would give him no answers on this night. But at least he had been diverted for a moment. It was a painful moment, but sometimes any diversion was better than the empty life he lived at present. Perhaps one day, when Miss Barton was happily married, he would thank her for the strange visit.

If only to see the look of horror on her poor sap of a husband’s face.

Diana pulled away from the elderly butler and stepped over the threshold of Lord Bryant’s home, back into the darkness of the pounding rain. If she never returned, it would be too soon. Her legs still shook from her encounter with Lord Bryant. “I can manage returning to my carriage on my own,” she assured the servant. The butler glanced up at the sky and back at her in indecision. She took one more deep breath and, summoning the last of her courage, sent the poor man a smile. It served its purpose. With one last regretful look, he slowly swung the door closed. A second later, the latch clanked into place. Diana spun and immediately slid to the ground, her back dragging along the rough stone exterior of Lord Bryant’s home. Her dress was already a disaster. A few minutes in the rain couldn’t make it any worse.

Lord Bryant was not going to help her. She didn’t know what had possessed her into thinking he would. Her anger at Mr. Broadcreek accounted for most of her foolishness. She was never late to send in an order. Never. Her desperation accounted for the rest of it. Any sane woman would write to Nate and ask him to return, but Nate had done enough for their family. It was time for him to live his own life. And it was time for Diana to stand on her own two feet and do what she could for their business.

Diana wiped a hand across her brow before her fingers found the small pin on her chest. The simple gold knot calmed her. It was a silly daily prize, created by Mr. Richardson to keep Nate interested in the railroad, even after his heart was turning back toward Baimbury. Each day the three of them would argue about who had accomplished the most that day, and the winner would wear the pin home. If either Nate or Mr. Richardson had still been here, it would have been pinned on one of their chests. Nate would have dealt with Mr. Broadcreek immediately while Mr. Richardson put the order in.

Now there was no one to compete with. That tiny pin was heavy against her chest. It was her prize to take every single day no matter what disasters she created. What kind of prize was that?