Page 92 of The Lady and the Footballer
It was all Lily needed.
She began running down the steps before anyone could stop her, until she reached the bottom of the stands, surging past all who stood between them.
And there he was.
He broke away from his teammates, his arms outstretched as she ran to him, remembering at the last moment to ease off as she wrapped her arms around him.
“You did it!” she exclaimed, pressing her face into his neck.
“We did it,” he said, before he lowered his mouth and claimed her lips – claimedher– with his.
Lily didn’t care about anyone watching them, what they thought or how they would take this. For the first time in her life, she knew the path she wanted, the life she was ready to embrace.
The game, the rules of society, they were not hers to follow. Not anymore. What she shared with Colin was different. It was their own game, untouchable, one they would play by their own rules and no one else’s.
When they broke apart, it was only to a chorus of cheers, from his own teammates. She focused on them, and the wide smile of the exhausted man standing before her.
He was more man than any she had met before – and he was all hers.
She removed her gloves, letting them float to the ground as she cupped his face in her hands, his scruffy chin in her soft fingers.
“I love you, Colin.”
“And I love you,” he said, before he kissed her again, claiming her before all those who surrounded them – none of whom mattered more than one another.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lily had felt her father’s disdain as they entered the carriage to head toward an inn for a celebratory dinner, but she had no care for it. Everything that they had worked so hard for had come together, despite the few bumps along the way.
All that could make it better was her parents’ acceptance of her love, but she knew that was not a likely possibility.
She couldn’t change it, so she would just have to accept it.
“Did you hear what people are saying?” demanded her mother when she met them in front of the inn. She had missed the game due to another social engagement, thank goodness. Lily couldn’t imagine having to endure her mother’s diatribe on how Lily had ruined her life, in addition to her father’s disdain.
“What have you heard?” Lily asked. She could hardly imagine that her mother would have learned the goings-on of the game already, but then, gossip travelled fast.
“Lord Montgomery has become a pariah. It is said that he was behind our club’s woes.”
Interesting that it was “our club” now.
“What do you think about Lord Nathaniel now?” Lily asked, raising a brow.
“You cannot be with a man like that anymore,” her mother said, straightening her shoulders as though she was better than the family she had once considered such close friends. “Just think of what people would say!”
Lily turned around before she rolled her eyes. She had only briefly seen Lord Nathaniel at the match but, with self-preservation, he had slunk away the moment he had seen Lord Cartwright speaking with his father.
“I have also heard news about Mr. Thornton,” she said. “It sounds like you did well in recruiting him, John.”
As though her father had anything to do with Colin’s success.
“Indeed,” her father said with a quick glance at Lily. It seemed that her mother had not yet heardallthe gossip. “He is quite celebrated now after sending the club to the Final.”
“I can hardly wait to see what the papers will say about the club in the morning!” her mother trilled as she waltzed toward the front door of the inn. Yes, because that was what this was all about.
Lily and Emmaline followed their parents to a celebratory dinner in the inn that Lily knew wasn’t far from The King’s Head.
“Well?” Emmaline whispered to her. “Do you think we can sneak out of this place? I promise you I can have you back before your parents even know you are gone.”
