Derrick subsided into his chair, pulling his book back over his face.

Stephen regarded him for a long moment, then gave an exasperated sigh. “Oh very well! I’ll go.” He collected his crutches from the wall, then hobbled to his sister’s side.

Harriet watched as her mother handed the note to Sophia. “What’s that?”

“An invitation to dinner. I thought Lady Cabot-Wells should meet the captain first.”

“This evening?”

“No, I thought we’d save this evening for just ourselves and the captain. We need to be certain he is convinced he is who we’ve told him he is. I asked Lady Cabot-Wells to join us for dinner sometime next week.”

“But she’s the biggest gossip on earth!”

Mother smiled. “Which is precisely why I invited her. I thought we should begin at the top and work our way down.”

Sophia breezed to the door, Stephen hobbling after her. “We’ll return soon, Mother.” She wiggled her fingers and went out the door.

He stopped on the threshold, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You know, Harriet, if we work this right, we might be able to use your precious captain to help in other ways than just keeping the bank away.”

“Such as?”

“Well…if he’s not injured too badly, he could help with the shearing. All of it.”

Harriet met Stephen’s gaze, astounded at the thought. Good God, that would be perfect. It was difficult finding reliable workers, especially so close to shearing week, and things were getting desperate.

A slow smile began, then gradually grew until it matched Stephen’s. That was an idea, the first good one she’d heard all day. One more pair of helping hands would make all the difference in the world.

“All we have to do,” Stephen said, “is convince him that the captain would do it, and since he’s the captain…”

Harriet nodded, her heart lightening a little.

“Come on, Stephen,” Sophia said. “I want to change before dinner and fix my hair, and we won’t have time if we dally.”

Stephen sighed. “All right. I’m coming.” He gave Harriet one last meaningful look, then followed Sophia out the door.

Mother beamed. “See how well things are going already? We have not only found a Captain Frakenham, but we’ve found another helper for the shearing. It’s more than I had hoped—almost a miracle.” She smiled at her children. “Sometimes prayers really are answered!”

Harriet wasn’t sure that she wanted to call the dark-haired stranger a miracle any more than she wanted to call him Captain Frakenham, but she had no say in the matter at all. She’d just have to make do, put up with the man’s odious, self-satisfied manner, and pretend she was engaged to the oaf. But only in public.

Meanwhile, she’d take comfort in Stephen’s suggestion. If she and Stephen could contrive a way to get the stranger to help with the shearing, then perhaps some good could come of this mess after all.

Chapter 12

Bloody hell, it’s Lady Tatswell. Having just returned from boring some poor unhappy parti to death, she is now about to sally forth on a fresh mission of destruction. She’s—God no! She’s coming this way! Where can we hide?