Page 66 of The Lady and the Footballer
“Colin Thornton.”
“I did not say that,” she said, but she had never been a proficient liar.
“I told you to stay away from him,” he said, his anger rising again, his face turning from pale to pink to a slightly mottled purple in an alarmingly short amount of time.
“And I told you that he is the man I want to be with,” she said, knowing just what this could mean for Colin, but it seemed that her father was sure of his identity, so anything she said now no longer made much difference. But she had to protect him and his position as best she could.
“Colin does not want to see any estrangement between us, Father,” she said. “I met with him only for him to tell me that I am better to stay with my family.”
“He is right,” her father said gruffly. “But you went to him anyway. By yourself.”
“I did.”
“Lily,” her father said, advancing into the library. “What if you had been seen? You could be ruined!”
Well, shewasruined, but she was actually quite glad of the fact.
“Just leave things be,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound too desperate. “Manchester Central has a match today. You need Colin if you have any hopes of winning.”
Her father swallowed hard, which told her the truth of the matter – that she was right. Colin did play a major role on the team, and playing without him would mean the loss of at least a couple of goals and likely the game.
“Get some sleep,” he said gruffly. “We will speak of this later.”
“What about Mother?”
“She doesn’t know about all of this yet,” he said. “Best to keep it that way, at least for now.”
Lily nodded in relief. Her father wasn’t a bad sort – not usually. He just had a hard time seeing outside of the only life he knew, the same one that he expected of her.
In the meantime, she would change for a visit with Emmaline.
She had much to tell her. Much that she would like to revisit herself.
For one thing was for certain – last night was one she would never forget, for the rest of her life.
“There something you’d like to tell me, Thornton?” Colin heard the growl coming from his surly captain, but all he could see now were the laces on Rhys’s shoes as he bent to tie his own. When he finally looked up, he found Rhys staring down at him with a frown and beefy arms crossed over his chest as the rest of the team took to the field behind them for practice.
“About what?” Colin asked, knowing as he said it that it was the wrong response.
“You promised to see the Evans girl home safely last night. Today, I am told that she did not return home until the weehours of the morning, and Harcourt is hot to remove you from the team.”
Colin’s insides turned at the thought. Somehow, Lord Harcourt had found out that he had been with Lily. He wondered how much the man knew. Of all that he knew could have come from last night, he hadn’t wanted his club to pay the price, but he should have known it was possible.
“I—”
“Save it,” Rhys said, shaking his head. “Lucky for you, an entire committee would have to make that decision, and the rest of them are more concerned with winning the Cup than Harcourt’s daughter’s reputation. But he’s coming for your head, Thornton. I’d be careful if I were you.”
Colin nodded.
“I know it looks bad, Rhys, but her father is trying to marry her off to some nob who I wouldn’t even allow to look at my sister, let alone tie to for life. I’m trying to find the best way forward.”
Rhys’s features softened so slightly that anyone who didn’t know him would have missed it.
“And just what are you going to do about it?” he asked. “Marry her yourself?”
What did it say that suddenly, that didn’t sound like such a bad idea to Colin?
“Don’t worry over it,” he said, trying to dismiss Rhys as he took a few steps forward, but Rhys stuck to him.
