Chase realized that he rather enjoyed working. It was invigorating in a way, facing each day’s challenge. Town life was all he’d ever known, all he’d ever thought of knowing. Farming, after all, was hardly the pursuit of a true gentleman. It was possible to dabble in trade a bit, so long as one didn’t take it too seriously.

Chase yanked his hat a little more firmly onto his head and glinted a smile at Harriet. “Regardless of where I used to be and where I will be going, I am in the country now.” He looked down at his muddied boots and grimaced. “Very much so.”

“For the moment.” She tightened the ribbons beneath her chin. “You would be discontent indeed if you thought you would be stuck here for the rest of your life.”

“Harri!” Ophelia called.

Harriet turned toward the sheep pen. Everyone had left the table and was now lined along the fence where Ophelia had sat perched just a half hour earlier, giggling behind her hand.

“Harri!” This time it was Stephen. “You need to come and see this.”

Harriet glanced at Chase. “What did you do?”

“Me? Nothing. Perhaps they are admiring how quickly we managed to get them done.”

“Yes, but—”

“Harri!” This time it was Sophia, her voice breaking as if on a giggle.

Harriet’s brow lowered. “I suppose I should see what they want.” With that, she walked to the gate.

Chase stayed where he was for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his shoulders, the scent of hay and the fresh-baked bread they’d had for lunch. He felt amazingly well. There was something to be said for the simple life, he supposed. If only it wasn’t quite so…wholesome.

Yes, that’s what it was—wholesome. Something Chase most decidedly wasn’t. The thought caught at his heart, and he realized that as welcoming as the Wards were now, they wouldn’t be once they realized what he really was. What he’d done. His heart sank.

The sun seemed suddenly less bright. He made his way to the pen where the Wards were gathered, looking over the fence at his protégés, a lively spring breeze tugging at skirts and ruffling shirts. Chase came to stand beside Harriet, looking at his work critically.

The sheep weren’t all perfectly sheared, of course. But this was his first time. Chase defied anyone else to have gotten as close or as even on their very first venture into the shearing business.

He glanced at his companions. “Well?”

Stephen raked a hand through his hair, his gaze fixed on the sheep that grazed before him. Sophia just looked stunned. Only Derrick looked happy, his face split in a wide grin, while Ophelia hid her mouth behind her hand, her eyes crinkled with laughter.

What the hell? Chase looked at Harriet. Her eyes wide, her fingers pressed to her lips, she was regarding the sheep as if she’d never before seen one.

“What?” he demanded, a feeling of unease flickering through him.