Page 3 of The Hellion and the Captain (Scandals and Scores #2)

Chapter Three

E mmaline kicked at the pile of clothing on the floor.

It was no use. This wasn’t going to work.

She dropped herself onto the floor next to the pile of her brothers’ remaining discarded clothing. She had only found one pair that fit, which she had worn to the previous practice.

A pair that had somehow disappeared.

It was likely an overzealous maid trying to clean, who had considered the clothing was not needed as its original owner no longer lived here. Of all the discarded clothing that Emmaline had found of her brothers’, all were too big except for those that she had worn and had now gone missing.

Emmaline’s options were limited. She could try to purchase clothing herself, but there would likely be little available, and some talk if anyone witnessed her doing so.

She could also take a maid into her confidence, but the chances were too great that the maid would find this too much of an intriguing situation and talk to other servants, if not Emmaline’s mother herself .

There was truly only one person in her life she could trust with absolute certainty not to tell anyone else.

Lily.

Which was why she found herself back at Lily and Colin’s house, although it took some time for her to bring herself to knock on the pretty light blue front door. What would Lily say? Would she care that Emmaline had deceived her and her husband?

Surprisingly, Lily’s one maid didn’t answer the door, but Lily herself.

Her cheeks were flushed and her hair dishevelled as she smoothed her hands over her plain pale yellow morning gown.

It was much simpler than her clothing had been before she and Colin married, but now that they had compromised on the lives they were used to, she functioned with much less help than she had in the past.

“Emmaline!” she said, trying to tuck a piece of hair back into a pin. “Is everything well?”

“Yes, of course,” Emmaline said, peering around the door to see Colin buttoning his jacket, and she had to hold in her laughter, for she knew it would only further embarrass Lily. “I can return another time.”

“Oh, no,” Lily said, flushing an even deeper shade of red. “Colin was just about to leave for his office.”

“Ah, I see, giving him a little send off, are we?” Emmaline couldn’t help but say with a wink that had Lily biting her lip as she shook her head at her.

“Emmaline!”

Emmaline laughed and stepped past Lily into the house.

“I’m jesting. I’m happy for you, Lily. You know that. Good morning, Colin.”

“‘Morning, Emmaline.”

“Practice tonight?”

“Yes, actually,” he said, fixing her with a quizzical stare. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess,” she said with a shrug, her heart beating faster when she realized her mistake. Why had she even raised the topic? “Or perhaps Lily mentioned it to me.”

“I don’t think so,” Lily said, but she didn’t seem overly concerned.

Emmaline eyed her before looking back at Colin. Could she trust that Lily would keep her secret from her husband? She didn’t have much choice at this point. Besides, Lily was likely to discover it eventually, for it would become rather obvious if this went much further.

“Have a good day,” Lily said, stepping into Colin’s embrace and fixing his cravat right before he placed a kiss on her lips.

“Same to you,” he said. “I will see you later.”

On that note, he walked out the front door, still looking backward as he and Lily stared longingly at one another. Once he had finally left, Emmaline stood and waved to Lily.

“Are you there? Or have you walked out the door with your husband?”

“I’m sorry, Emmaline,” Lily said, although she didn’t appear overly apologetic. “I just cannot help myself.”

“I understand,” Emmaline said with a wave of her hand. “Those footballers have quite the respectable bottoms.”

Fortunately, Lily knew when she was teasing, as she chuckled, before motioning Emmaline toward the back of the house. “Come. Mrs. O’Connor sent cookies.”

“Oooh, are they the cinnamon ones with bits of chocolate?”

“They are,” Lily said with a grin, and they sat and enjoyed two each before Lily placed her hands over one another in front of her on the round dining table. “Now, tell me what you came here for.”

“What do you mean?”

Lily tilted her head to look at her, those beautiful blue eyes dancing. “Emmaline, I have known you for so many years that I know better than anyone when you are hiding something, and you are most definitely keeping something from me.”

Emmaline hadn’t realized how obvious she was. Hopefully, Lily was right, and she only noticed because of their close relationship.

“You are correct that I am hiding something,” she admitted. “But the only reason I haven’t told you yet is because I wasn’t sure if it would come to anything.”

“And now it is?” When Lily’s eyes lit up, Emmaline realized that she was hoping Emmaline would say she had found a man she was interested in. Little did she realize that Emmaline hoped to join ten other men, not just one.

Lily waited.

“I’m playing football,” Emmaline finally blurted out, and Lily’s eyes widened, primarily at the explosiveness of her words.

“In the clearing?” Lily said, her brows knitting together. She knew that Emmaline enjoyed practicing now and again, and when forced, Lily had stood in the clearing and blocked a few shots for her, although she preferred to read in the shade of a tree while Emmaline kicked the ball around.

“Well, of course, I will always practice out there. But that is not what I mean. I am trying out to play for… Manchester Central.”

Lily’s gasp was one of true shock, and Emmaline knew she rarely ever surprised her friend anymore.

“Manchester Central, as in… Colin’s team? The club my father sponsors?”

“That’s the one.”

“How? When? Where? No, Colin would have?—”

“He doesn’t know.”

“How is that possible? They had tryouts last week, did they not? ”

“They did,” Emmaline agreed. “Did Colin mention an Emmett Williams after practice?”

Lily gasped so loudly when she realized the truth that Emmaline nearly fell over backward.

“ Emmaline !” Lily hissed. “You are Emmett Williams?”

“I am, indeed,” she said proudly. “I am glad to hear Colin didn’t see through my disguise. It must be better than I thought.”

“I think we are missing the point,” Lily said, placing the back of her hand against her forehead. “Emmaline, I know you have been part of many schemes in the past, but this is… this is… outrageous.”

Emmaline fixed her with a look.

“Is it any more outrageous than the daughter of a viscount marrying a footballer who also happened to be a factory worker?”

Lily bit her lip. “Likely not,” she acquiesced. “But Emmaline, if you are found out?—”

“Then what?” she said with a shrug. “Then no one will ever marry me? That is already the case. I am too loud, too opinionated, too unchaperoned. Men see me as a bit of fun, but none has ever shown any intention of wanting more than a stolen moment in a dark corner of a garden.”

“Oh, Emmaline, that is not true.”

“Is it not?” Emmaline said. “What do you suppose I am doing now, Lily? I am five and twenty, same as you, and I have not yet found a man who I am interested in, who in turn has any true interest in me. My parents already have grandchildren through my brothers, and they do not care if I marry. My mother enjoys my company, and my brothers are happy to look after me if they must. Not that I would need any looking after.”

She sniffed loudly at the last part. She did have a plan for her future, if it came to that.

Her eldest brother was prepared to take over her father’s title one day, hopefully in the distant future.

In the meantime, he was learning the ways by managing one of her father’s secondary estates.

Her second eldest brother was at school at Eton and would soon work with her grandfather in the shipping business.

Emmaline had decided that if she must, she could try to work with him as well.

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was better than nothing.

Lily already knew all of that, but what she didn’t know were Emmaline’s plans to have some fun in the time between.

“You know how much I love to play football, Lily,” she said, leaning forward and taking Lily’s hand between hers. “I love it more than any man I have ever met seems to – including Colin, and you know how much he lives for the game. How is it fair that I must give it up because I am a woman?”

“Many things are not fair, Emmaline.”

“True as that may be, I refuse to stand for it.”

“You are following your mother.”

“Perhaps, and I am happy for it. I might not have aspirations to change the world for women as she does, but I would like to try to change the sport.”

“There are women’s leagues?—”

“Which I have tried. Once they found out who I was, none of them wanted me. They told me I would become a spectacle for the team if I continued to defy my family and play with them.”

“You truly have thought of an answer to every objection.”

“I certainly have, as I went through them all myself.”

Lily stared at her, blinking a few times before she smiled in resignation.

“Well, then,” she said, “what can I do to help you?”

“I thought you would never ask!” Emmaline said gleefully. “I need some clothing. I had some of my brother, Freddie’s, old clothes, but they seem to have walked away. Does Colin happen to have anything we might be able to alter?”

“We shall have to go look,” Lily said. “Let’s head up to the attic. He has some trunks of his old things up there.”

“Perfect.”

Emmaline followed Lily out of the room and up the stairs. “I have another favor to ask.”

Lily looked over her shoulder with a brow raised. “Yes?”

“Please do not say anything about this to Colin.”

“Oh, Emmaline.”

“I know. You tell him everything, you love him, all of that. But Lily, if he finds out, he will not want me to play.”

“He won’t, but not because he has any objection to women playing. He would not want to see you get hurt.”

“Football is not wrestling.”

“Sometimes it might as well be. You know that as well as I.”

“Be that as it may, if I must be built with such strong shoulders and hips, I might as well put them to good use.”

Lily stopped at the top of the attic stairs, finally turning around to look at Emmaline.

“I will make you a deal.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I will not tell Colin what you are doing, even though it is against my better judgment, for I believe it would help to have someone watching out for you.”

“But?”

“If he ever asks me directly, I will not lie to him.”

Emmaline paused, tapping her finger against her lip as she stared at Lily, who stared back at her in supplication. Emmaline knew she was putting her in a difficult position, even though she had been friends with Lily for years before she had even met Colin .

But if this was all Lily asked of her, she could see no reason to refuse.

“Of course,” she finally said. “Now, where is that trunk?”

Lily led her across the room to a wooden chest in the corner. She lifted the lid, revealing a mountain of clothing within.

“Take your pick,” she said, waving her hand before them.

They spent the next couple of hours rifling through the clothing within two trunks, finding a few pairs of trousers and shirts that Colin must have worn in his youth.

Emmaline held them up in front of her, frowning. “I think they are still a tad too big.”

“We can alter them,” Lily said. “Mrs. O’Connor will help.”

“You want to tell her?” Emmaline said, wrinkling her nose. “I know how much you trust her, but the more people who know about this, the greater the chance of the secret emerging.”

“I understand what you are saying, but who else do you know who could alter clothing? The only other person would be Colin’s sister, and we certainly cannot ask her as there is a good chance she would say something to Colin,” Lily pointed out.

“You would have to leave this part of the city to find a seamstress elsewhere. Someone who would keep your secret.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Emmaline admitted. She held up an entire outfit in front of her. “Just picture this one as me, my hair tucked into a cap, my freckles covered with makeup, my brows darkened, stubble over my chin. You would never recognize me!”

“I would always recognize you, Emmaline.”

“Well, you would be part of a select group of people,” she conceded. “Likely you and my mother, to be exact.”

“I have so many questions,” Lily said. “What your voice sounds like, how you plan on changing after matches, what you would do if you were ever discovered.”

“One thing at a time, Lily,” Emmaline said with a smile. “First, I have to make the team.”

Lily bit her lip. “Rhys is deciding which players will remain with the club.”

“He is making the recommendations to the club committee to make a decision,” Emmaline corrected.

Lily’s eyes rose to hers. “Is that why you were being so contrary towards him yesterday?”

“I was not being contrary!” Emmaline protested, to which Lily rolled her eyes.

“Perhaps not contrary, but you must admit you were teasing him.”

“I was flirting.”

“Well, I suggest you avoid flirting with him in the future, or he will soon realize that Emmett is Emmaline.”

“He doesn’t enjoy it otherwise?”

“Honestly, I have never seen Rhys show interest in a woman for longer than an evening. He is always too focused on all the business before him, all that he is responsible for. I don’t believe he has time for love and romance.”

“Well,” Emmaline said, smiling at herself in the rusted and cracked floor-length mirror sitting in the corner of the attic, “maybe I can change his mind.”

“I would highly recommend that you do not try,” Lily said with a sigh. “For both of your sakes.”