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she pointed her finger at Heather. “There’s only one reason you’d let him think you’re married. You’re afraid you still care about him, aren’t you?”
    Heather’s head hurt, and she rubbed it. “How would you feel if you had to admit you ran off and married someone on the rebound and it ended in divorce a few months later? That you have never stopped mooning over him? I do have a little pride. I’ll tell him I’m divorced when I’m ready. But I need some space first.”
    “When did he meet Charlie?” Abby asked.
    “Last night. He came by the house.”
    Abby’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, do tell! What did he want?”
    “To clear the air and apologize for how he acted. Do you have any idea how that made me feel? To have all that humiliation brought up again. I wanted to fall through the floor.” Her face burned.
    “It’s over now,” Lia said, her voice soothing. “Put it behind you and move on.”
    “It’s going to be hard. We’ll be working together.” The girls exclaimed, and Heather told them about the organic farm. “I have to do it. My boss was adamant.”
    A worried frown crouched between Abby’s eyes. “Just be careful, Heather. You could fall hard again. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
    The scent of coffee began to fill the room, and Heather got down cups. “Don’t worry, I won’t go down that path again. Paul Mansfield is way out of my league.”

    “Right,” Abby said. “You’ve never gotten over him. Not really.”
    Heather turned away from their earnest faces. No amount of wishing in the world could change what was. She’d mask her feelings well this time. She’d forge a business relationship and that would be enough.

Men do not appreciate women who are constantly in histrionics. Modulate your emotions, and always speak in a calm tone.
P EARL C HAMBERS , The Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship
CHAPTER FOUR
    P aul lifted a tree branch out of Heather’s way. “Sorry, this is a mess.” The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt.
    “A mess” didn’t quite sum it up. The recent storm had left tree litter everywhere, and the farmhouse had some missing shingles. The barn was more weathered gray than red, and the white-on-green shingles spelling out an advertisement for Smitten Creamery were faded. He’d found a raccoon in the attic yesterday and had called the extermination place. The screens were missing from the back porch, and the shrubs rambled out of their beds.
    He glanced at Heather, then looked away. The sunlight gleamed on her blond hair, and her blue eyes matched the sky overhead. She was way too beautiful for his peace of mind, now that he knew she’d married while he was away. “It isn’t doing anyone any good going to wrack and ruin out here.”
    Charlie tugged his hand from Heather’s and ran to climb on the old swing set in the side yard. The Bristols were friends of Paul’s great-aunt Rose, and he remembered playing on that swing set with his sisters when they were kids. It was crumbling into rust now from age.
    “That’s not safe,” Paul said, and intercepted the little boy, who squirmed in his arms. He’d design a wooden play area, maybe a pirate ship or something here for the kids.
    Heather wore a dreamy expression. “I’ve always loved this place. The building is really old, you know. Late 1700s.” She shaded her eyes to stare out at the rolling hills, still brown from the blanket of winter snow. The trees in the distance weren’t budding yet, so the landscape was barren. “It’s wonderful to have fallow ground to work with. It’s had a chance to rest and recover from the chemicals used in the past.”
    Mud clung to Paul’s boots as he followed her a few feet into the field where stubble from a corn crop still mixed with the remnants of knee-high weeds. “What would you do with it?”
    She contemplated a moment. “I know this will sound random, but if we put up a hoop house, we could grow organic ginger. It commands a