Or women in the railroad business, for that matter. But as far as Diana knew, she was currently the only one of those, and as of yet, she had exactly zero members of Parliament under her thumb. An unfortunate oversight when every new line needed an act of Parliament to be passed before the first railroad tie could be laid.

“My last line was finished two weeks ahead of schedule,” Mr. Broadcreek bragged, his mustache rolling about the top of his mouth like a brown caterpillar as he spoke. He scooted his chair closer to her desk and leaned forward. Diana leaned back. Mr. Broadcreek’s mouth belonged as far away from hers as possible. At least he hadn’t proposed again. She was running out of ways to politely say no.

She still had an hour to get her payment into the ballast office. She would suffer Mr. Broadcreek’s ramblings for only five more minutes. Then she would make him leave, even if she had to resort to a fit of the vapors. He had already been rambling for an hour and twenty minutes. Surely he couldn’t go on much longer.

As if to prove her wrong, Mr. Broadcreek’s mouth continued to operate undeterred. “So you see, Miss Barton, I know you felt my assessment of Richardson Rail was undervalued when I offered to buy it from Mrs. Richardson, but I truly felt my expertise and experience would add greatly to its value. Not to mention, after a few well-placed questions, I discovered you didn’t pay any more for it than I had offered. You cannot still hold that against me when you did the exact thing yourself.”

Diana gritted her teeth. She would have to fire Mrs. Richardson’s solicitor. Nate’s solicitor would never have divulged such secrets to anyone, let alone Mr. Broadcreek. “That is hardly the same. Mrs. Richardson and I are friends. When Mr. Richardson passed away, I promised I would help in any way possible.”

His caterpillar mustache bunched to one side of his mouth. “By swindling her out of her railroad company and running it into the ground? How is that helpful?”

Diana grasped both sides of her chair. It was the first time he admitted that the price he had offered Charlotte for Richardson Rail was scandalously low, but she couldn’t count that as a win while he defamed her ability to run the company.

“Mr. Broadcreek, one thing you can count on is that I won’t be running Richardson Rail into the ground. Another thing you can count on is that Mrs. Richardson will not be swindled by me. Once I finish our current line and receive an act of Parliament to build another, Richardson Rail will be worth double what you offered to pay for it. She may no longer be an owner of Richardson Rail, but she still has a monetary interest in the company.” Any profits Diana gained would be shared with Mrs. Richardson when Diana sold a much more valuable company. It would be enough for Charlotte to live comfortably on with her three children for the rest of her life.