Page 26 of The Hellion and the Captain
“Bollocks.”
“Wh-what are you doing here?”
His words were senseless. It was very obvious what she was doing here, but he couldn’t believe it. How had he been so stupid, so unobservant? He was the leader of this team, and yet, he had allowed someone within who had no business being here. Who might only prove to destroy this team. Who had intentionally, specifically, deceived him.
“I am changing my clothing. Or at least, I am trying to.”
She tried to tug her arm out again, but her wet clothing had no give. He had no idea yet what to do about the discovery he had just made, but he acted on instinct before he could form any decisions.
“Here,” he said gruffly, crossing the room, stilling her movements when he placed one hand on her bare forearm, the other on the fabric. “Don’t move.”
As gently as he could given her injury and the fact that she was, he now knew, a woman, he stripped the cold, wet cotton from her arm before pulling the entirety of the shirt up and over her head, leaving her sitting there in nothing but the fabric that was tied tightly around her chest.
Her eyes were wider than he had ever seen them before, her lip stuck between both rows of even, white teeth.
“Rhys—” she began, but he held up a hand.
“Stop.”
“I need to explain.”
“I-I can’t be in here with you.”
And yet, there he remained, feet rooted to the floor.
She stood, lifting her hands at the side in a gesture of disbelief before she reached over and took a dry shirt, easily pulling this one over her head, hiding her skin as well as that devilish bruise.
“There. All proper now.”
“Everything about this,” he circled his finger around the room, “is far from proper. If we were found in here together?—”
“Rhys, I have been playing on the football team for weeks now. I hardly think that us being here together is the most scandalous aspect of the situation.”
He placed his hands over his face for a moment to try to calm himself. How had he not seen this? Her slender body, one that on Williams, he had considered to be slight, but had not realized was strong, toned. Her face, angular as Williams, was now softer, more feminine.
And those eyes… he realized now that was what had partially concerned him about Williams. He had never looked him in the eyes.
Now he knew why.
“I knew something was off,” he said, shaking his head, backing up a step for every one that she took toward him. “I should have trusted my gut. Never should have let you onto this team. And then the whole time you’re flirting with me as yourself, leading me on – and for what? To try to throw me off track of who you truly are?”
Her brow furrowed, and he knew that he had gone too far, but it crushed him that she would deceive him, spend so much time lying to him like this.
“Of course not,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, and now he couldn’t get the image of her smooth, creamy white skin out of his mind. “You and I together have nothing to do with this.”
“Nothing?” he scoffed. “Emmaline, it has everything to do with it. You and I… well, thereisno you and I. Not when you disguised yourself to sneak into my football club.”
“Oh, Rhys, come off it,” she countered. “I did nothing but wear men’s clothingand play some football.”
“And take on a fake name and identity.”
“Perhaps. But still, I hurt no one in the process.”
“No?” he said incredulously. “How about the men who had the true right to a place on this team, who I let go?”
“I was obviously better than them if you decided on me.”
He continued his rant as though he hadn’t heard her. “Then there’s the men who you played with, whose livelihoods you put in danger.”
