Each day that the bell failed to ring and announce his arrival, she became more mortified by her actions in the nursery. Galloping about? Making strange voices? Pushing his hair away from his forehead . . . She couldn’t think of that last one without a deep sense of embarrassment. She had let down too many walls that night and had treated Lord Bryant as a friend. Her fingers tingled in remembrance of the cool skin of his forehead. Friend was too generous to herself. She had acted like a woman fixated on Lord Bryant.

No wonder he hadn’t returned.

That had never been part of their bargain. Her eyes went to the window, and she clenched the pen in her hand until she heard it crack. She needed to be away from this office. “I just remembered I need to buy another copy of Bradshaw’s Railway Timetables.”

Mrs. Oliver’s forehead furrowed. “But—”

Diana shifted to the side to block Mrs. Oliver’s view of the bookshelf behind her desk. Nate’s copy was sitting there safe and sound. “I want my own. I shouldn’t have to use Nate’s all the time.”

Diana strode around the desk. Mrs. Oliver stood from her chair. “Which bookstore should you like to visit?”

Blast propriety and relying on Mrs. Oliver to accompany her everywhere. She wanted away from her as much as she wanted away from the office. Why hadn’t she made more friends while she was in London? She could ask Charlotte to join her, but by the time she received her note, prepared to leave the house, and arrived at the office, it could be another hour. She had been wanting to check in more with Charlotte during the day, but in the end, her impatience won that war. “Hartform’s.”

“Hartform’s? That is across town.”

Exactly. The last thing Diana wanted to do was spend the day in the office. She might miss Lord Bryant if he finally decided to show up, but then, perhaps he could be the one disappointed at missing her. She was tired of being the one who always waited on him. Diana tied the knot of her bonnet under her chin. “I know it is across town, but they are certain to have it. I don’t want to waste time on one of the smaller bookstores nearby.”

Mrs. Oliver furrowed her eyebrows but didn’t contradict her. Hartform’s was a large bookstore but not that much larger than the one down the street.

By the time the carriage pulled up to Hartform’s, Diana had regretted her decision to ride all the way across town. As it turned out, Mrs. Oliver felt the need to converse when trapped in a confined space. At least in the office, Mrs. Oliver had her work to distract her from Diana’s social life. Diana sprang from the carriage as soon as the driver opened the door. She gulped the air as she strode to the shop door and pulled it open.

Something was different.