Page 85 of The Hellion and the Captain
He collected the pins that were already falling out of her hair and then stared at them, so small in his large hands, as though they were foreign objects, which they probably were to him. She chuckled softly before she told him what to do, and he nodded, doing his best, apologizing when he accidentally poked her too hard.
“I know that was my sister on the field,” Freddie said from the other side of the door. “The way she runs, the way she plays. Then when her hat came off?—”
“Williams will be sore when he’s heard you’ve mistaken him for a woman,” Tommy responded. “He had his shoulder looked at now by the doc, and I can tell you that’s a man sitting in there. Now, get back to the stands or we’ll have to talk to the FA president about tampering.”
“What?” Freddie said in shock, and Emmaline winced. Not much angered her brother, but when he did get riled up, watch out.
“No offence, Fred, but you play for another team.”
“One you beat. With my sister on the field. I thought I recognized her then, and now?—”
“One minute!” came a call from beyond the door, and Emmaline’s heart sped up. If they didn’t get rid of Freddie now?—
“All right, all right, I’m going, but I’ll be back, Ward, I promise you that.”
“I’ll hold you to it!” Tommy called back jovially before he opened the door. “It’s clear now, but you better make things up with your brother for me after this, Em.”
“I will,” she promised, pulling her cap low over her head. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rhys tried to focus on the rest of the game, but it was difficult when all he could do was watch Emmaline.
He admired her courage, which was greater than any he had ever seen before, even if he didn’t agree with her decision to keep playing.
Although he would have done the same thing himself.
Harrington ran over to him before the play began, and Rhys braced himself, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for him.
“Lockwood,” Harrington said, some chagrin crossing his face. “Apologies about Reeves. Even if the umpire hadn’t tossed him out of the game, I would not have allowed him to continue. Had I known?—”
“But that’s just it,” Rhys interjected. “You did know, and you let him play anyway. I knew what the man was capable of the first time I met him. It’s why he’s not playing for Manchester Central — I didn’t want a player like that on my team.”
“I knew he’d be aggressive, but I didn’t know he’d go tosuch extremes,” Harrington defended himself, but Rhys was already shaking his head.
“You made that choice. And now you have to play with a man short.”
“Your injured player is continuing?” Harrington said incredulously. “I heard… his shoulder was out.”
“It was, but it’s reset,” Rhys said with a shrug. “He can still kick the ball.”
He had a feeling that Harrington knew they were not talking about a man anymore, but he pressed on with the charade.
“You have the penalty you deserve. We have another ten minutes to play. All we can do now is take the field and let the best team win.”
Harrington nodded slowly. “You’re right,” he said, before lowering his voice. “None of the other men on my club know about Reeves’ accusations. I’ll try to keep it that way.”
“Why?”
Harrington eyed him. “Because I’d like to think you would do the same for me if I ever needed it. That, and I’m not in the business of ruining lives. Besides… I don’t need anyone knowing who Williams truly is when the player has scored more than one goal against us.”
So, there was the truth.
“As for Reeves… I’ve told him that if word gets out, I will ensure he never plays football for any club again. That seemed to scare him straight.”
“I appreciate that,” Rhys said, and they shook hands once more before they each returned to their respective teams, taking the field across from one another. He risked a glance up to the stands, finding the entire Whitmore family standing and staring at them with expressions ranging from chagrin to horror on their faces.
They’d deal with that later.
