Page 73 of The Hellion and the Captain
Emmaline dumped her uniform on the bench, hoping she would have time to change it away from the rest of the men before the next game. That could become rather awkward. She’d have to find a way around it.
Rhys waited until she was the last out, walking with her away from the practice field. Emmaline’s back itched, as though the place where his hand should be leading her was waiting for his touch, but he could hardly do so with her as Emmett, especially with the suspicion surrounding her.
“Have you heard from your brother since our game against Eton?” Rhys asked.
“Not a word, but he is due to visit this weekend with the semester coming to a close,” she said, biting her lip. “I was waiting for a letter or for my parents to comment, but nothing. Perhaps he thought that something seemed familiar, but never considered it any further.”
“Is he the type of man to let something like that go?” Rhys asked.
Emmaline sighed. “He’s an awful lot like me.”
“Then we are in trouble.”
“Most likely,” she said, cringing. “Even if he did discover my secret, he would never tell anyone beyond my family, that is. If he was insistent that I needed to give up playing football with Manchester Central, he would tell my parents, and from there, well, I suppose they could forbid me from playing.”
“Would you listen?”
She looked up at him with a smirk. “I do not suppose I would have to, now, would I?”
“That is your choice, Emmaline,” he said. “I can’t tell you what to do.”
“And I’m glad you don’t,” she said, softening. “You respect my wishes more than anyone else ever has or ever will. I do love that about you, you know.”
He looked down at her. “Happy to hear it.”
“How did you get to be the way that you are? Someone so good, so kind, but who doesn’t like to let people in? You never talk about your family.”
Rhys let out a long, slow breath. “They are good people. My mother insisted that I get an education. My father wasn’t so keen on it. Thought that I should work with him at the mill.”
“In London?” she asked, pointing behind her.
“Yes.”
“Do they still live in the same neighborhood?”
“They do,” he confirmed. “I needed to get away. Start a new life for myself. Even though I had the education I needed to work at a job that could provide me a good income, I kept getting pulled back to the neighborhood, to the same people who wanted to take anything I had earned away from me. So, I left. I started playing football here, found a job at the bank, and worked my way up as I proved myself.”
“Do you ever see your family?”
“Now and again,” he said. “They come to watch football matches if we ever play in London. I’ve asked them to come here, even sent money home to them, but,” he shrugged his shoulders, “they’re happy with the familiar.”
“I suppose I can understand that, although I can imagine you must miss them terribly.”
“Most days,” he agreed.
“That’s why you are so lonely,” she said, tilting her head to look up at him. “This football club is your family now.”
“They are,” he agreed, his jaw tightening. “Which is why I am most frustrated when anyone threatens them.”
“Like Reeves.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do about that, Rhys?”
He glanced over at her, but his expression didn’t reveal anything. “What do you mean?”
“When he was mentioned in the bathhouse, I saw that look on your face. We haven’t heard any more from him because you stopped it. But how?”
