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Chapter Twenty-Eight

“ M y house is just up the street,” Colin said.

His ribs were on fire as he had received a fist to them while trying to get away from the men, but he hadn’t wanted to show his pain, as he sat beside Lily in the squab, aware that he looked entirely out of place in the small, elegant carriage. “There.”

Lily peered out of the window, likely eager to see his house. He hoped she didn’t expect much. Lady Daughtry called for the driver to slow, but as she did, Lily placed a hand on her arm.

“No,” she said urgently. “Keep going.”

“But—”

“Please!”

Lady Daughtry complied before sitting back and looking at Lily with question.

“There is a man in front of your house,” she said in a low voice to Colin, as though her voice would carry. “Do not look out the window, but it looks to be the constable.”

“By God, you’re right,” he said as he moved so he could see through an angle. “How could Lord Montgomery have gotten word out that fast?”

“A rider, I suppose,” Lily said. “We are a fair distance away from Ellesmere Park. There would have been enough time to send one of his men or servants. He could have done so before confronting us in the garden.”

“Where to, now?” Lady Daughtry asked, and Colin quickly recited Tommy’s address. He would take him in, no matter the circumstance or his lack of extra beds.

Colin wished he could reach out and haul Lily into his side, but now was not the place or time – not with Emmaline and her mother looking on.

“I will stay with Colin,” Lily said as they pulled in behind Tommy’s house. He lived in a small one-bedroom apartment above the blacksmith shop, where he worked as an apprentice.

“Lily, I know I offer you much leniency, but you know that even I cannot allow that,” Lady Daughtry said, although her pitying expression told Lily there was hope.

“Just a few minutes?” Lily pleaded. “Perhaps your carriage could return for me?”

“Mother, I can promise you that nothing is going to happen that has not already,” Emmaline said, to which Lily hissed, “Emmaline!” and Lady Daughtry sighed as she rubbed her temple.

“Fifteen minutes,” Lady Daughtry finally relented. “We will do one long circle around the neighbourhood, and then we must return to Ellesmere Park. And, Lily, please never tell your mother I allowed this.”

“Of course not,” Lily said, before she took Colin’s hand, allowing him to help her to disembark.

The moment the carriage clattered away, she threw herself into Colin’s arms, and despite the ache that raced through his body, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him, wondering if this would be one of the last times he would ever do so.

“What’s wrong?” she said, pulling back urgently as her eyes roamed over him, and he realized he must have let out an audible grunt.

“I think I hurt a rib while wrestling myself away from those men,” he said. “But it’s fine.”

“Oh, Colin, it’s not!” she exclaimed. “I am so sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t?—”

“Hush,” he said, running his hands over her face, to her shoulders, and over the tops of her arms, drawing her in close, attempting to blanket her cold body in his warmth.

“It is not your fault at all, Lily. I sought you out there and insisted on joining you in the study. Not everything ill that happens to me is on you.”

“Your life was fine until you met me,” she mumbled miserably into his chest.

“Yes,” he agreed, drawing back to look her in the eye.

Those blue eyes swam with tears that he wished he could completely erase.

If nothing else, he needed her to understand how he felt, what she meant to him.

“My life was fine. But that’s it. It was only fine.

Since you entered my life, it has been full of joy and hope and utter gladness that I have never known before. I love you, Lily.”

She gasped and began blinking rapidly, as though concerned that the tears were going to wash over and fall down her cheeks. He didn’t want to be the reason for her to cry unless they were happy tears.

“Say that again?”

He smiled despite the glimmer of pain radiating through him, for she brought him nothing but joy.

He might not be the most eloquent of men, but he knew his feelings and how to put them into words.

“I love you. With all my heart. I know that I have given you so many excuses for us not to be together, but the truth is, I’m not sure that I can go on without you by my side.

I thought I had figured out a plan to support us, my mother, and my sisters, but now that it seems I am wanted for theft, there might not be a way forward for us to be together.

But I needed you to know how I felt. And that I would do anything within my power for us to be with one another – if you would have me and the life I have to offer. ”

He had sobered now as the reality of the situation washed over him, that even though he had thought he had figured out a way to make it all work, none of it meant a thing now that Lord Montgomery had won.

“Oh, Colin, of course,” she said, a hitch in her voice as she attempted to keep it strong.

“I love you more than I ever imagined was possible, and I want nothing more than to build a life together. After all that has happened since that first kiss, I wasn’t sure if the risk would be worth it to you. If… if I was worth it.”

“You are worth hundreds of arrests and thefts and being stuck in a mill overnight,” he said with a laugh. “I love you, Lily.”

He bent and took her lips with his. They had kissed before, yes, but this time was different. This time, all they felt for one another surged between them as she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close, as though she would never let him go.

He wished that were the case – that they could stay in one another’s arms when they fell asleep at night, that when they woke in the morning, her face would be the first he would see.

The urgency grew between them, building to a promise of so much more, but Colin forced himself to break away, setting her back away from him.

“If only we could do more, Lily, but this will have to be enough for tonight,” he said with a sigh, resting his forehead against hers, wishing this night had ended differently.

“And after tonight?” she asked. “What comes then?”

The sound of a carriage's wheels on the cobblestones reached them, and Colin knew that it was the Daughtry carriage returning.

“That,” he said as he kissed her forehead, “we will have to determine tomorrow. It was foolish to bring me here first. I should be seeing you home.”

“No, you cannot,” she said. “For you to return to Ellesmere would be folly. But I could stay here. What would it matter anymore?”

He leaned down and kissed her, his eyes shining at her. “You must be aware of how much I would love to have you stay with me. But we must think about the future. If there is any chance that we see one another again, it will be through doing this the proper way.”

“Must we?”

He released a low laugh. “Do not look at me like that, for then this might be a different story.”

She dropped her gaze. “Very well. Emmaline and her mother are still within. Find me tomorrow, please?”

“Of course,” he said, holding her close, squeezing her so tightly that the pain in his ribs made him gasp, but he was trying to fill her up with all the love he could give her, knowing that this might be the last time he could ever do so if the constable found him and he couldn’t defend himself.

“If I must leave you, then I will make this better,” she promised, her eyes filled with so much conviction that he desperately wanted to believe her. “There is only one thing that you must do.”

“Name it.”

“You must trust me. Do not run away. Do not deny me. Do not tell me that I would be better off without you or that I do not deserve you. I just need a bit of time and a little more patience. Can you do that for me? Please?”

“I told you that I would do anything for you, Lily,” he said, looking deeply into her eyes. “And I am a man of my word. Just know that I will be here, no matter what you need. I will not leave you again.”

“Thank you,” she said, a tear finally slipping from below her eyelids. Her voice fell to a whisper. “No one has ever trusted me like you have. Ever.”

“And I’ll never stop,” he said, placing one last chaste yet meaningful kiss on her lips. “Goodnight, Lily.”

“Goodnight, Colin.”

Colin hobbled around the back bedroom in Tommy’s house. He knew he was putting his friend at risk, but he couldn’t return home–not at the moment, when there was likely a warrant out for his arrest.

It had pained him to continue on past his house last night, for he knew his mother and sisters would have questions and be overly worried, especially when he didn’t return home.

He had entered the back door at Tommy’s small rooms overtop of the blacksmith, surprising him. But Tommy was happy to host him and had even paid a quick visit to Colin’s mother to assure her that all was well – or as well as could be given the circumstances.

“What’s your plan here, Colin?” Tommy asked as he sat in front of the small fire, his legs crossed at the ankle as he rested his feet on a small wooden footrest. “First, you were concerned about not having a job to look after your family. Now, you cannot even show your face around the city without possibly being arrested.”

“Now I wait.”

“You? Wait?”

“Yes. I must wait for Lily.”

“To do what?”

“I don’t know,” he said, unable to help the bit of laughter that rose within him.

“You have got to be joking me,” Tommy said, staring at him as though he had lost his mind.

“She said she would figure this out and asked me to trust her. If I cannot do that, what good am I to her? So, I will do as she asks.”

“And have a secondary idea.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

“Colin,” Tommy said, gripping the arms of his chair and leaning forward. “Are you telling me that you are leaving your entire future in the hands of a noblewoman?”

“No better hands,” he said, a slow smile tugging on his lips at the thought of the determination she had worn on her face last night. “I love her, Tommy, and I know how capable she is. If she has a plan, she will see it through.”

Tommy let out a bark of incredulous laughter. “You’re crazy.”

“Don’t I know it,” Colin said, sitting back, his smile widening. He would have thought the same thing if he had been sitting in Tommy’s chair months ago. But he had changed. Lily had changed him. “Crazy for her.”

“We play the Athletics in two days. The winner will go to the final.”

“I know,” Colin said, sobering. “Don’t I wish I could take the field with you.”

“Maybe you can,” Tommy said. “What will they do, arrest you in the middle of the match?”

“They might.”

“Then they’d have ten other footballers to contend with.”

“I don’t want to bring any of you into it.”

“Too late,” Tommy said, shaking his head. “You and I have always been family, but the rest of them are part of us now, too. Whatever happens, they’re going to be there fighting along with you. You understand that?”

“I could never ask this of them.”

“Good thing you’re not asking, then.”

“Tommy? Just concentrate on winning this one. They’re going to need you.”

“Of course they will. They always do. But they’re going to need you, too, Colin. So rest up. Those ribs need to be healed enough for you to run.”

“How’d you know my ribs were sore?”

“By the way you’re curled around them like you’re holding a baby you’re trying to protect. Put some ice or a slab of meat on them, they’ll heal up just fine, but don’t try to pretend nothing’s wrong–with your body or anything else, Colin. Hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you just fine.”

He had finally accepted the fact that he could trust Lily, as much as it crazed him not to be the one taking care of everything himself.

But to give his trust to the rest of the football team, asking them to hold his secrets and his life in their hands?

He wasn’t sure he could stretch that far. Not now. Not yet.