Page 35 of The Hellion and the Captain
"Rhys," she whispered, the only word she could manage.
He closed his eyes again, as if in pain. "Emmaline," he rasped, the sound raw and reverent. "We can't... I shouldn't have..."
“Shh,” she soothed, pressing a finger to his lips. “Don’t overthink it, Rhys. Just let yourself feel for once.”
He captured her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm before lacing their fingers together. “You’re going to be the death of me, woman,” he growled, but there was no heat behind his words, only fond exasperation.
Emmaline grinned back at him. “But what a way to go, hmm?”
Rhys chuckled, the sound warm and rich in the twilight air.
“I think our next practice should be somewhere a little more… public.”
“You want an audience?”
“I want a reason to prevent me from kissing you again.”
“Was it really that bad?”
She was joking, but when his hard gaze caught hers, all of the humor washed away, leaving only raw desire behind.
“You know the answer to that.”
“That was the best kiss of my life,” she said, pausing as she looked down at her hands. “I probably shouldn’t say that.”
“You speak your truth,” he said. “With one exception.”
“I might have been posing as Emmett, but I was living my truth more on that football field than anywhere else.”
He leaned over, looking her deeply in the eyes. “Make no mistake, Emmaline. That kiss meant just as much to me.”
She raised her brows as he finished his thought.
“Which is entirely the problem.”
Chapter Twelve
Emmaline heard her mother before she saw her. Always a lusty vocalist, she was singing her heart out in the parlor. One of those suffragette songs she was always advocating.
Actually, Emmaline wondered if her mother hadn’t written some of them herself.
“Mother?” she said, stepping into the parlor door, halting her mother’s song mid-note.
“Emmaline, there you are!” her mother said, her lips wreathed in smiles as she sailed across the room and embraced her daughter. Lady Daughtry had always been a dreamer, living in the what-could-be and not the moment.
While it had worked out well for Emmaline, giving her freedom she would have otherwise desired, sometimes it would have been nice to have garnered as much of her mother’s attention as her causes did.
“What has kept you occupied today?” her mother asked, and thankfully, Emmaline didn’t have to lie, for she hadn’t had any practices with Rhys or the team. After yesterday’s dusk exercises, he had commanded a day of rest, and she hadspent most of it lying prone on the couch as her muscles ached in places she hadn’t even known she had muscles.
“Reading, mostly,” she said.
Reading and eating. She was starving after all her exertions over the past few days. Luckily, no one had yet noticed the sudden increase in her appetite.
“Lovely,” her mother said. “I have a meeting tomorrow. Would you be interested in attending?”
“What is this one for?”
“Expanding some of the college educational opportunities for women.”
