Page 76 of The Hellion and the Captain
Oh yes, he had forgotten about that.
He swivelled around, following her gaze to the bench behind them, his pulse picking up at the horror on her face.
They were closer now, and he realized his mistake.
There was nothingonher uniform.
It was shredded into pieces.
Emmaline stepped back, and before Rhys could stop her, she was running over, gathering the material in her hands.
“Who would have done this?” she asked, but she noticed what was beneath it before he could respond. It was more clothing in the same maroon and cream as the uniform, only it wasn’t another shirt or a pair of pants.
It was a skirt.
Someone knew her secret.
She looked at Rhys, horrified.
“Was this Reeves?”
“It has to be, unless someone else discovered the truth.”
“The truth,” she practically whispered. “What are we going to do?”
“We are going to be prepared,” he said firmly. “We don’t know where this is coming from, and we cannot confront him if this wasn’t him.”
“We know it is,” she argued.
“There’s only one way to fight this, Emmaline. No rules say that a woman can’t play the game.”
“What are the rules?”
“The only rule is that all players have to be registered with that particular club.”
“Which I am — as Emmett Williams.”
“Yes,” Rhys said. “That is the one difficulty. You are not entirely who you say you are. Emmett Williams is registered. If you are discovered, you could be denied playing on the grounds that Emmaline Whitmore is not registered.”
“So, what do we do?”
He leaned in.
“You continue on as you are, and you show everyone what you are capable of.”
He didn’t tell her the entire truth — that, likely, there was nothing they could do now. Whether she liked it or not, her secret would likely be exposed. If someone was willing to threaten them like this, what would stop him from going further?
But he didn’t want to get in her head, at least not before her meeting with the club committee. From there, they would decide the best way to approach the game.
One thing was certain.
She wouldn’t be facing anything alone.
Emmaline tried to keep that in mind as she walked up the stairs at the back of The King’s Head to reach Manchester Central’s club committee offices, her heart beating faster with each step she ascended.
The club committee had agreed to an audience with her.
Although that didn’t mean they would actually listen to anything she said with sincerity.
