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Chapter Twenty-Six

C olin stared at the food before him but found he couldn’t eat.

It had been two days since he had lost his job and his place on the football team, and he had yet to tell his family.

He was ashamed. Ashamed that he had allowed his heart and his desires to get in the way of what truly mattered.

Now, he would have no way to support the women who depended on him.

He would eventually find a place to work, but he would have no chance to do nearly as well as he had with the Harcourt Mill and the football team combined.

Not only that, but Manchester Central had come to mean something to him. All of those men – even Rhys, who had yet to send a smile his way – were like family now, a family that he had been ousted from without even a chance to say goodbye.

Then there was Lily.

He couldn’t even think about her.

He still wanted her, with every part of his being.

Worst of all – he was in love with her. He had tried to deny it for so long, but as he had sat there and watched her father remove everything that meant anything from his life, he had realized that she had mattered just as much, if not more, than the rest of it.

“Is something wrong with the stew?” his mother asked, breaking him from his self-pitying thoughts.

“It’s as wonderful as ever,” he said, trying and failing to put some emphasis in his tone.

“Why do I not believe you?”

“I’m sorry, Mother, I am,” he said. “It’s just…”

He looked around at his mother and sisters, all staring at him expectantly. They put so much trust in him. Believed in him. And he had failed them all.

“I have to tell you all something,” he said quietly.

And then he did.

When he finished, they all sat there in silence, his mother and sisters processing his news of how he had let them all down.

He waited for their placating words to tell him not to worry, that it wasn’t his fault, which would be just that – words to make him feel better but would hide the truth of how they truly felt.

His sister spoke first. “Do you love her?”

“Pardon me?” he said, blinking at her. He had mentioned Lily when he had told them about investigating the club’s issues, but he hadn’t said anything about his involvement with her.

“Lord Harcourt’s daughter, Miss Evans. Do you love her?” she repeated.

“Why would you think that?”

His mother reached over and patted his hand with a soft smile. “Because when you speak of her, your expression changes. We know you better than you likely know yourself, Colin. We see those feelings that you refuse to give any credence to. Tell us what happened.”

“I—” he ran a hand through his hair. “I have developed feelings for her, yes. We had been seeing one another in secret, and I fear that, perhaps, her father discovered the truth and used the evidence as a reason to be rid of me.”

He looked at them all, imploring them to understand. “I am so sorry. Had I known that he would find out, I never would have continued with her. I’ve let you down. We’ve lost everything because I couldn’t stay away from her.”

“Colin Richard Thornton, that is not how I raised you.”

His head snapped up at his mother’s stern words before she continued.

“You did not lose everything. We have one another, and we always will. And you likely still have the woman you love, if you would take a chance and tell her how you feel.”

“Who says I haven’t already?” he couldn’t help but say defiantly.

His mother only raised a brow, reminding him that she knew him well enough to sense his lies.

“We all help one another around here, Colin,” she continued.

“I am cooking again, and Diane is being paid more the further she goes in her apprenticeship. Soon enough, she will pass her teacher certification exam. Besides, you have been saving so diligently and will find something else very soon. But you might never find a woman you feel this way about again.”

“She’s the daughter of a viscount,” he protested.

“That doesn’t seem to make much difference to her,” Diane noted, and he sighed, running his hand through his hair again.

“I’ve told her time and again how different her life would be if she were to leave her current life for me, but she doesn’t seem to believe me.”

“Then allow her to make that decision,” Diane said with a shrug. “Wouldn’t you want the same choice?”

He did. He truly did.

He had to figure this out.

And found the first answer to his questions waiting for him in the form of a note.

It had been two days, and Lily had yet to hear from Colin.

Perhaps that was why she allowed her mother to talk her into attending a social gathering. That, and the fact that Emmaline promised she would also be in attendance.

“This was a very poor decision,” Lily said to Emmaline once she joined her at the side of the room, tapping her foot faster than the beat of the music.

“I feel as though I am wasting time. That the last place I should be is in the lion’s den, while Colin is out there, unaware of how I feel about him and uncertain about what he should do next. ”

“No,” Emmaline said, her breath coming in short, quick pants, and it was only then that Lily realized how pink her cheeks were, how excited she was. “You are exactly where you are supposed to be.”

“I am in Lord Montgomery’s home!”

“Precisely,” Emmaline said, tugging on her arm. “Come with me.”

“Where?” Lily asked as she moved quickly to try to keep up. They received a fair share of curious glances as they hurried by, not at all ladylike in their rush out of the room.

Emmaline didn’t answer her question or say anything else until they were nearly out of the doorway, stopped by Lily’s mother, who stood there like a gatekeeper.

“Lily Evans, just where do you think you are going?”

She and Emmaline exchanged a glance.

“We were going for some air,” she said at the exact same time Emmaline said, “to the lady’s necessary.”

Her mother looked back and forth from one of them to the next before crossing her arms.

“Return to the ballroom.”

“But Mother—” Lily protested.

“There are a few gentlemen I would like you to meet.”

Lily had to suppress her groan but knew that the best way to escape her mother was to humor her.

“Very well, Mother,” she said. “I will meet them – after I have a short conversation with Emmaline.”

“Ten minutes,” her mother warned, and Lily nodded her agreement before her mother was, thankfully, distracted by an acquaintance, and Lily returned to Emmaline.

“Tell me what’s happening,” she demanded, no longer patient enough to add politeness to her concern.

Emmaline drew her over to the side of the room, away from anyone who could hear them.

“I was speaking to Tommy,” Emmaline began, and as desperate as Lily was to hear the story, she put up a hand to stop her friend.

‘Tommy as in Tommy Ward from Manchester Central?”

“Do you know any other Tommys?”

“No, but?—”

“Yes. That Tommy. I?—

“Why were you speaking to Tommy?” Lily couldn’t help but interject, but Emmaline just waved her concerns away.

“Focus on what is important right now, Lily. I was speaking with Tommy, and he saw Mickey with none other than Lord Nathaniel.”

“Pardon me?”

“You do remember Mickey?”

“Of course. He is one of the forwards. But why?—"

“Oh, Lily, I’m so proud of how your knowledge has grown,” Emmaline said, squeezing her hand and grinning at her, and Lily couldn’t help but beam at her praise.

“Tommy believes that Mickey was the player Lord Nathaniel and his father were finally able to bribe into working against the team. It makes sense. Look at how strangely Mickey was playing in their last game. You said he told Colin it was an off day, but what if it was more than that? What if he was being paid to throw off the game?”

Lily bit her bottom lip. “It is certainly possible. But then why was it made to seem Colin was at fault?”

“I’m not sure, though I have a guess,” Emmaline said, but before she could voice her opinion, Lily could have sworn she heard another voice mention Colin’s name.

She looked around, but no one on their side of the room seemed close enough that she could overhear them.

Besides, that had been a man’s voice, and all she could see were ladies.

Until she heard the name of the football club.

She tugged at Emmaline’s arm to tell her, but Emmaline had heard it as well, for she was already leaning her head backward, eyes wide.

She paused momentarily before nodding toward the potted plants that divided their corner from the other portion of the room.

It seemed the voices were coming from the other side of the plants they were standing next to. Lily leaned over, peering through the leaves, straightening when they closed with a snap that she hoped was not overly loud.

“Lord Nathaniel,” she whispered to her friend. He was standing with another gentleman she recognized but didn’t know well. She was sure her mother would know his identity, for she seemed aware of every young single man.

“These upstarts think that just because they can kick a football, they are as good as we are,” he said with a snort as both Lily and Emmaline stood frozen in silence listening and staring at one another.

“One in particular even thought he could move his way up the social ladder through one of our women.”

Lily bristled. The fact that he thought he owned her – or any other young ladies – made her want to run from this party and seek out a man like Colin even more.

“But I showed him,” Lord Nathaniel continued. “It didn’t take much for him to get what was coming to him. A few well-placed inflammatory pieces of evidence and Lord Harcourt took matters into his own hands. No one would believe a factory worker.”

Lily was practically bristling as she came to an even greater realization as to why Colin would be wary of attaching his life to hers. If a possible connection with her led to his complete downfall, what would happen if they took a step forward and committed themselves to one another?

She knew, more than anything, that she had to make this right, to show Colin that even though men like Lord Montgomery and Lord Nathaniel would see him as nothing more than a pawn in their games, she saw him as so much more than that.

She turned her attention to Emmaline, whose furrowed brow told Lily she was as angered as she was.

“What are we supposed to do?” she whispered.

“You said that you searched Lord Montgomery’s mill, correct?”

“Yes.” Her cheeks flushed as she couldn’t remember the incident without recalling what she and Colin had done in the mill together.

“I think we should search his home study to see if can find any evidence of his wrongdoing.”

“What if we are discovered? There are so many people here tonight.”

“Lily.” Emmaline crossed her arms over her chest. “When did you become a coward?”

“Never,” she said vehemently.

“Exactly,” Emmaline beamed. “I knew you would never let such injustice sit unaddressed. Especially when so much is directed at the man you love.”

“ Emmaline . I wrote him a note two days ago, and he still has not responded. While I am still determined to clear his name, that isn’t a good sign that he feels anything back.”

She caught Emmaline’s warning glance and sighed. “But I promised you that I would try, and I will. Once more – even if I’m not sure how quite yet. First, I’ll clear his name. Then I’ll decide if anything is left to salvage between us.”