Page 19 of The Hellion and the Captain (Scandals and Scores #2)

Chapter Seventeen

E mmaline had looked behind her a few times as she left the tavern, but Rhys did nothing but stare at her, his eyes like daggers in her back. She met his gaze, solid, insistent, but she couldn’t read his expression.

Was he upset with her? Had he realized that he would prefer a woman like Minnie over one who walked around in men’s clothing?

She was still considering his thoughts as she entered the carriage with Colin, Lily, and Minnie to return home, and didn’t notice that the carriage door had been wrenched open again until Colin let out a shout, though he quickly quieted.

She whirled around to see who had joined them, both relieved and excited to see who it was.

“Rhys,” Colin said as relief, excitement, and nervousness all coursed through Emmaline in equal measure. “Need a ride home?”

“I thought I’d make sure that Emmaline got home safely.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Colin said, although there was teasing in his tone.

“Drive us all to your house and I’ll walk her from there,” he said gruffly, and Colin shrugged before telling the driver to carry on.

“We’ll stop for Minnie first,” Lily said. “She lives near here.”

“I’m not sure that we have met,” Minnie said, leaning forward, and Emmaline observed Rhys carefully to see how he would react to her.

She had sensed his gaze upon them all night, but she had no idea if that had anything to do with Minnie or if he was watching to see how well she kept up her disguise.

“Rhys Lockwood,” he said curtly before taking a seat on the squab on the other side of Emmaline so that she was in the middle between Minnie and Rhys.

It was a tight squeeze, and she found herself pressed up against his side.

He shifted his arm over her shoulders to make room, and she settled back into him, not missing the curious glances from Lily and Colin across the way.

“Do you think everyone bought the story?” Emmaline asked, cutting through the silence.

“No,” Rhys said, and Emmaline started in surprise.

“Why do you say that?”

“Tommy asked me why you didn’t care that he was cutting in on your girl,” Rhys said. “You weren’t exactly selling that you cared if another man flirted with Minnie.”

“I wasn’t entirely sure what to do,” Emmaline said before glancing over at Minnie, who had bowed her head, and Emmaline sensed that if it was lighter in the carriage, she would notice her cheeks were pink. “I didn’t want to act the jealous sort.”

“I’m sorry,” Minnie said softly. “I shouldn’t have encouraged him.”

“Not your fault, Min,” Emmaline said, reaching over to pat her knee. “You did very well considering the story we had fabricated. ”

“What would you do if someone was flirting with your man?” Lily asked from across the carriage.

“I’ve never had that problem.”

“But if you did?”

“Well, I suppose I would tell her exactly what she could do with her flirtations,” Emmaline said, thinking of what she would do if Rhys was hers and another woman tried to capture his attention.

“Then that is what you must do as a man!” Lily said. “Next time.”

“Next time,” Emmaline murmured. “It seemed that this escapade both brought attention upon us but took some off as everyone was staring at Minnie instead of me.”

“Oh, I do not think that is true,” Minnie said, as humble as ever, but Emmaline and Lily laughed.

“Men always look at you, Min. It’s just the way it is,” Lily said. “Your beauty is something talked about all over Manchester.”

“I wish you wouldn’t say that,” Minnie said.

“I would like to know what you thought of Tommy,” Emmaline said. “If you are interested, then I should step out of the way early.”

“He was fun to flirt with, but it doesn’t seem as though he would ever take anything seriously,” Minnie said, and Colin snorted.

“There is much truth to that,” Colin said, “but I’ve known Tommy since we were children. He has one of the purest hearts of anyone I’ve ever met.”

“He is a good sort,” Lily said. “He’s been there for us – and for Colin – through everything in his life. In fact, if it weren’t for Tommy, Colin wouldn’t be playing for Manchester Central.”

“He did put in a good word for you, Colin,” Rhys agreed. “ Although I had to tell him tonight exactly what I thought of stepping in on a teammate.”

“Did you really?” Emmaline asked, delighted and wishing she could have been present for such a conversation.

“Poor Tommy,” Colin said, shaking his head. “He means well.”

Rhys’s expression turned incredulous. “Means well? He was going after another teammate’s woman. I had to set him straight.”

“Did he feel awful afterward?” Colin said, a touch of concern in his tone.

“He did.”

“I’ll follow up with him tomorrow.”

Emmaline could sense that Rhys was not overly concerned about how Tommy felt about the entire situation, but she supposed that was what made a good leader. Someone who had to say things others shied away from and be confident that he had done his best with the situation.

The carriage slowed as they arrived at Minnie’s parents’ home, a stately townhouse in the higher end area of Salford. Her parents were wealthy but didn’t have the entailed lands or varied estates as Lily and Emmaline’s parents did.

“Well, that was more fun than I’ve had in a long time,” Minnie said as Colin helped her out of the carriage. A wide smile covered her beautiful face as she flipped pieces of her blond hair behind her shoulder. “If there is ever the opportunity to join you again, I would love to do so.”

“Consider it done, Min,” Emmaline said. “And if you decide that you’re interested in Tommy, you just let me know.”

“I will,” she said, her cheeks flushing pink again. “Goodnight.”

They waited a few minutes for Colin to walk her to the door to ensure she was safely home, and he seemed pensive when he rejoined them.

“She does seem a good fit for Tommy,” he said as they drove away.

“Except that her parents would like to see her wed to a duke or someone of the sort,” Lily said wryly.

“I don’t know about that,” Colin said with a snort, “but I would encourage him to pursue her if it wasn’t for her suitor Emmett here.”

They all chuckled before Colin leaned back in the seat, his gaze flicking over to Rhys and then back to Emmaline.

“Whatever happened with you and Tommy, anyway?”

Emmaline could feel Rhys’s stare upon her, and she realized this wasn’t a situation he knew anything about. In fact, she would have preferred not even speaking to him about it, for she didn’t want it to become more of an issue than it actually was.

“We met up once with the intention of getting to know one another, and quickly realized that while we got on very well as friends, there was nothing more between us,” she said with a shrug. “No attraction.”

“Does Tommy know that you are Emmett?” Rhys said from beside her, his body having gone rigid, his voice dipping into that low, nearly threatening tone.

“He does not,” Emmaline said before conceding, “at least, as far as I know.”

“So, you’re not as good friends as you thought.”

“We had fun as friends,” she said patiently.

Just that evening, she had been jealous of Rhys simply looking at Minnie so she could understand where he was coming from.

She couldn’t help but admit that it felt good to know he cared enough to be bothered by the thought of her with another man. “That is the extent of it. ”

“I see,” he said, although from his tone, he still didn’t seem entirely pleased about the situation.

At the end of Lily’s parents’ drive, the carriage stopped in the yard just beyond Lily and Colin’s little house.

“Are you sure you prefer to walk?” Lily asked. “The carriage could take you home and return.”

“I’ll find my own way back after I see Emmaline home,” Rhys said. “Not to worry. Thank you, Lily, Colin. And goodnight.”

When they stepped out of the carriage, Rhys placed a hand on the small of Emmaline’s back, walking her down the drive. She felt treasured, protected, in the hands of this big, gruff man, and her heart seemed to be beating so hard that it was jumping up to her throat.

It was hard to believe she had already been intimate with him, for she still felt so vulnerable in his arms.

“Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” he finally asked, breaking the silence, as they walked through the dim night, lit only by the half-moon and the surrounding stars hanging over them.

“I did,” she said. “Minnie is always a good time. But I still felt that I couldn’t be myself. That if I said too much or became too exuberant, I would receive too much attention. I don’t like holding back, but it seems necessary.”

He nodded thoughtfully, scratching his beard. “You are much more spirited as Emmaline.”

“Because it doesn’t matter. All I risk by being too much is someone not wanting me, and if no one wants me because they don’t like who I truly am, then so be it.”

“I can’t imagine how anyone would not want you.”

“That is kind of you to say.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Well, most men of my acquaintance would prefer a wife who listens rather than speaks, who does as she is told, who does not have opinions and is willing to follow along with whatever he requires of her. I have never been that person. I am far too bold, too opinionated, and too uninterested in doing something just to please a man.”

“The first woman you described sounds boring and is the very reason I have not yet found someone I enjoy spending more than a short time with.”

“That must be why we get on so well, then.”

As they landed on her family’s property, she glanced up at him, risking his denial, but needed to ask anyway.

Having been apart from him the entire night, staring at him from across the tavern, so close yet so far away, wishing she could sit beside him, touch him, put her hand on his thigh as Lily was able to do to Colin, she was now craving time with him in which they could have those intimate moments together, moments that felt as though they had been stolen from her.