Harriet’s throat tightened at his expression. Whatever he had done, he felt it was unforgivable. She tried to imagine what it could possibly be, but looking at him, the sun shining on his broad shoulders, knowing that he possessed enough heart to stay to help her family even when his own problems seemed large and painful…

Harriet bit her lip, her eyes moist. She simply couldn’t imagine him committing any crime so serious that it would be necessary for him to banish himself from his own home.

Chase caught her expression. Damn it! He didn’t want anyone’s pity, especially not Harriet Ward’s. “Now that the game is up, you will wish me to leave. I’ll go this evening and—”

“You can’t.”

He frowned. “What?”

“You can’t leave. Lady Cabot-Wells is to come this evening. What would you have us tell her?”

“That I was called back to sea.”

“Then the bank would immediately demand payment. We need you, Mr. St. John. You cannot leave.”

“Cannot?” he asked softly.

“You cannot leave,” she repeated. “Not yet.”

Chase absently rubbed his neck where it had begun to ache. If he had any sense, he’d be gone with the first ray of dawn.

That was what a sane man would do. But apparently Chase was no longer sane. Charading as the captain and working knee-deep in sheep muck had turned his brain to mush. “I suppose I could continue to be the captain for another week or so—”

“I knew you would do it!” She beamed at him, her earlier irritation melting away like snow before the sun. “That would be so lovely.”

Yes, he realized with some surprise. It could be lovely indeed. Or it would have been, if he wasn’t aware that he was going to have to leave, and soon. A pang shot through him.

“I don’t know what to say except…thank you.” Her brown eyes met his, warmth and light shining through.

Light that would disappear the instant she discovered his sins. “I will stay one more week but no more.”

“Excellent! And while you are here, perhaps you should think things through. I can’t help but wonder if—”

“I have thought things through. I cannot go back to London.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

She sighed. “I could help if you’d tell me more.”

No one could help. This time, Chase was going to have to help himself. “You are not responsible for me, Harriet Ward.”

“You are just like Stephen. He won’t listen to a word I say, either.” Exasperation tinged her voice.

Chase almost smiled. “You have never met a problem you couldn’t solve, have you?”

“Never.” She regarded him for a long moment. “I suppose we are even, you and I, for our first meeting. A deception for a deception.”

“We are indeed even, thou and I.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “And well matched, too.”

A faint flash of color touched her skin. And he was aware of an instant thrum of desire. Of all the beauties he’d met in London, he’d never beheld one who was as beautiful inside as she was outside. The combination was heady and he wished with all his heart that things had been different. But they weren’t.