Page 6 of The Hellion and the Captain
“If you’ll excuse me,” Rhys murmured before walking away to join Tommy in speaking with Minnie and Ada, and Emmaline sighed. She could flirt well, she knew that, and yet, more often than not, gentlemen chose the younger, daintier women over her, the ones who would never challenge them.
Their loss.
The rest of the evening passed rather slowly. They played games, ate dinner, and told stories, but it wasn’t until near the end of the evening that Emmaline had the chance to speak with Rhys again.
“See anything you like?” she asked as she watched him keep an eye on her friends. He started when she placed her hand on his shoulder. She wasn’t sure why she was doing this – if anything, it was only to get a rise out of him, to see what it would take for him to provide her any attention in return.
“I have enough to focus on without worry about women,” he said, shaking his head. “Your flirtations have not gone unnoticed.”
“By you?”
“By everyone.”
“I’ve hardly spoken to you!” she said, indignant.
“You’ve spoken to me, to Felix, to Mickey,” he said, waving a hand around the room, lashing out nearly angrily.
“Two of them sat next to me at dinner,” she said, bewildered why this man who barely knew her would be so put out by her speaking to his teammates at a meal that was put together for this very purpose.
“Maybe I am just not cut out for this shit,” he muttered, and she shrugged, perturbed by his response, which actually rather insulted her, if she was being honest.
“Perhaps not,” she couldn’t help but agree, standing with aflourish of skirts.
It had been quite the evening and gave her lots to consider. If all went well, these men would be her teammates – even if they would never know the truth.
As for studying their mannerisms… well, there were some she could certainly say she would not be emulating.
For they would only make her look like an ass.
Chapter Three
Emmaline kicked at the pile of clothing on the floor.
It was no use. This wasn’t going to work.
She dropped herself onto the floor next to the pile of her brothers’ remaining discarded clothing. She had only found one pair that fit, which she had worn to the previous practice.
A pair that had somehow disappeared.
It was likely an overzealous maid trying to clean, who had considered the clothing was not needed as its original owner no longer lived here. Of all the discarded clothing that Emmaline had found of her brothers’, all were too big except for those that she had worn and had now gone missing.
Emmaline’s options were limited. She could try to purchase clothing herself, but there would likely be little available, and some talk if anyone witnessed her doing so. She could also take a maid into her confidence, but the chances were too great that the maid would find this too much of an intriguing situation and talk to other servants, if not Emmaline’s mother herself.
There was truly only one person in her life she could trust with absolute certainty not to tell anyone else.
Lily.
Which was why she found herself back at Lily and Colin’s house, although it took some time for her to bring herself to knock on the pretty light blue front door. What would Lily say? Would she care that Emmaline had deceived her and her husband?
Surprisingly, Lily’s one maid didn’t answer the door, but Lily herself. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair dishevelled as she smoothed her hands over her plain pale yellow morning gown. It was much simpler than her clothing had been before she and Colin married, but now that they had compromised on the lives they were used to, she functioned with much less help than she had in the past.
“Emmaline!” she said, trying to tuck a piece of hair back into a pin. “Is everything well?”
“Yes, of course,” Emmaline said, peering around the door to see Colin buttoning his jacket, and she had to hold in her laughter, for she knew it would only further embarrass Lily. “I can return another time.”
“Oh, no,” Lily said, flushing an even deeper shade of red. “Colin was just about to leave for his office.”
“Ah, I see, giving him a little send off, are we?” Emmaline couldn’t help but say with a wink that had Lily biting her lip as she shook her head at her.
