Diana stood and smiled. “Of course. If there is anything you aren’t certain about, I would suggest determining that now. Once the money is invested, it will have to stay invested at least until our next line is completed. That is when the true benefit will pay out. I always advise my investors to look over any upcoming expenses or plans before deciding for certain.”

His eyes shifted to the door. “Yes, that is it. I did just remember some upcoming plans. I will look them over and—perhaps—be back in a week.”

“That sounds wise.”

He nodded and backed away from her desk, holding his sheet of paper in both hands. He reached the door and pulled it open in a mad rush.

“You will remember to keep my secret,” Diana called after him. “Lord Bryant hates to have my name bandied about town almost as much as he hates men who come here with less-than-serious intentions to invest.”

“I don’t bandy names about,” he said stiffly, but she could tell her portrait had done the trick. Mr. Winston wouldn’t be back. He gave her a stiff nod and helped himself out the door.

The door shut behind him with the clang of the bell, and Diana sighed. Perhaps it was time to stop taking investments altogether. Once this line was complete and income started coming in, between her funds and Nate’s, they should be able to keep both companies running.

But only just.

And she didn’t want to only keep the companies running—she wanted to build more lines. She still needed to raise at least twenty thousand pounds to prove to Parliament that the company was solvent. Without those funds, she wouldn’t be granted the act of Parliament to build another line.

For once, the office was empty other than herself and Mrs. Oliver, just as Nate had thought it would always be when he left for Baimbury. Their Barton lines had been—and still were—running smoothly. Diana had been helping Mrs. Richardson with her company when he’d left, but Nate had been confident that the two of them had everything under control.

She rubbed her hand along her desk—Nate’s old desk. Things were so very different now than they were when she first started. Working day in and day out with Nate and Mr. Richardson had been one of the most rewarding experiences of her life. The two had both started in the railroad business at the same time, and it had made sense to keep an office together, even with their separate companies. Nate particularly liked having someone in the office as it gave him the freedom to observe the lines whenever they came close enough to London for him to visit and even work with the navvies from time to time.

But then Mr. Richardson took ill and passed away. What a strange world where a man could be healthy and strong one minute, then gone only days later. The office was never the same after that. All of them could feel it. When Grace’s pregnancy proved difficult, Diana hadn’t had to tell Nate twice to return to Baimbury and leave things to her. He had never truly belonged in London. Now it was her turn to help the family. And as long as Nate didn’t hear that she had bought Richardson Rail, she felt fairly certain he would stay home and finally get the chance to live out his dreams of restoring the estate to productivity.