Page 61 of The Lady and the Footballer
“Has Miss Evans been helping you with your dropkick?” Mr. Lockwood asked sarcastically, but Colin was patient enough to set that aside.
“Miss Evans is helping the club with bookkeeping and noticed discrepancies,” he explained. “Meanwhile, after hearing that there were shortfalls in funding, I decided to look into it myself.”
Rhys straightened. “Why would you take that on? That is my responsibility.”
“I felt a sense of responsibility as well,” Colin said. “I didn’t like that you had to help fund the club yourself.”
“Now, see here. That is my decision and I?—”
Tommy put his hands between them as a peacemaker.
“Let’s give Colin a chance to explain himself, shall we? Then we can make accusations and defend our egos.”
“Very well,” Rhys grumbled as he settled down, but the suspicions remained on his face.
“Miss Evans and I crossed paths while we were looking for answers, and we decided to work together. As it turns out, we were not mistaken.”
He and Lily took turns explaining what they had discovered, finishing by revealing that Lord Montgomery was behind the sabotage of the club and the mill.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Mr. Lockwood demanded.
“Well,” Colin said with some hesitation, “there was a complication.”
He looked to Lily, question in his eyes, and she nodded, agreeing that he could tell the men what had happened at theMontgomery Mill – for the most part. She knew he would leave out the more intimate moments.
“So, what do we do now?” Tommy asked when they had finished, his mouth hanging open in shock at all they had heard. “Not that we want to see your reputation hurt, Miss Evans, but we can’t put the club at such risk.”
“Actually, it doesn’t matter all that much anymore,” she said, sitting back. “It seems my father heard rumors we were caught in a compromising situation, Colin. I convinced him that they were just that – rumors – but he has decided that he will soon marry me off so that there is no longer any concern about my reputation.”
Colin’s face darkened and his hand clenched into a fist, but he didn’t say anything – not in front of his teammates.
“Lord Nathaniel talked, then?” Tommy said, missing the signs that his friend was about to blow off in anger.
“He must have said something,” Lily said with a sigh. “Perhaps he thought that if he didn’t outright accuse us but rather planted whispers, he could still cause damage. No one else had any idea that we were there or together.”
“So, is that what brought you here tonight?” Mr. Lockwood asked accusatorily, “To talk to our leading goal scorer, asking him to help you? You do know?—”
“I know what is at stake,” Lily said quietly. “Trust me, I am well aware of the significance of our actions. Please trust me when I tell you we are trying to do what is best for the club. And for Colin’s family. I came here to tell Colin that we are no longer tied to our pact with Lord Nathaniel because he has now broken it.”
“I knew his word was not worth much,” Colin said, shaking his hand, his lips practically fused. “But this is… this is disgraceful.”
“That means we can share what we found, Colin, does it not?” Lily asked. “I didn’t want to explain to my father our actions or our discovery until I spoke to you, as I didn’t want to risk anything in your life.”
Colin’s eyes found hers, so much said between their gaze, but Tommy put into words what Colin must have been thinking.
“You would do that for him?” he said in surprise. “Risk your reputation? Marry someone awful, just so Colin’s life wouldn’t be ruined?”
“I would,” she said quietly, unable to look away from Colin.
“Well, you’ve actually proven me wrong,” Tommy said, shaking his head and earning an eye roll from Colin.
“Tommy, you’re wrong all the time.”
“Well, in this case, I thought I knew best,” he said, looking at Lily. “Miss Evans, you are not so bad after all.”
Their conversation concluded, they decided not to share the entire story with the team at this point, for it would be best to contain the information and handle it without a great deal of attention.
They returned to the table, where Lily was heartily welcomed, as confused as the other players were by her presence.
