“Well, should we go in?” Diana had asked.

The look on Mr. Broadcreek’s face when she called his bluff was almost worth the discomfort she felt sitting on Lord Bryant’s settee. It helped that Mr. Broadcreek looked at least as uncomfortable as she did.

Mr. Broadcreek leaned forward in his chair. “Are you certain we should stay?”

Diana smiled. Making Mr. Broadcreek shift in his seat was an added bonus she hadn’t expected in this charade. “I was under the impression that you had something of utmost importance to ask Lord Bryant.”

“I do . . .” He pulled on his sleeves and cleared his throat. “It just seems, under the circumstances, it might be best if we came another time.”

“Under the circumstances? You mean the ball? If you knew about the ball and I knew about the ball . . . why did we come all this way only to leave when a ball we both knew was happening is happening?”

Mr. Broadcreek furrowed his brows, but he didn’t remove himself from his seat.

As much as Diana enjoyed watching Mr. Broadcreek squirm, her pride came with a heavy price tag. Any moment now Lord Bryant would walk through that door, having just excused himself from his own ball.

A ball. The one place she had promised him she would never go.

Still, it wasn’t as if they were socializing. They were in the drawing room. Lady Emily wouldn’t even know they had been here. Nor would Diana get a chance to see her. What type of woman inspired Lord Bryant to host a ball?

The door opened, and Diana gripped the sides of her heavy practical skirt. A servant motioned with his hand, and Lord Bryant stomped into the room. All eyes turned to him, a situation the baron must be used to. He commanded the attention of any room he entered. He stopped as soon as he saw who was there. First his eyes flashed to Diana, scanning her face, then pausing at her throat. Diana sucked in a breath and silently prayed that he would stop looking at her like she was a lamb thrown into a lion’s den. The den of a hungry, majestic lion with eyes that sparked like fire. Her breath released in a rush when he finally cast his attention on Mrs. Oliver. He gave her a slight nod, and then his eyes narrowed as they took in Mr. Broadcreek. With some sort of silent agreement, all of them waited for the servant to leave and shut the door before speaking.

“Diana,” Lord Bryant said with a hand to his waist. “What are you doing here?”

He was using her Christian name at least. That was a good sign. If he was about to kick her outside, pretending to never know her, he wouldn’t have called her by name. What should she call him? Calling him Lord Bryant didn’t seem right since he had addressed her so intimately.

“Darling,” she tried. His eyebrow rose. Perhaps not that. She stood and walked behind the settee. It seemed a good idea to put something between her and Lord Bryant. “Do you know Mr. Broadcreek? He wanted to meet you.”