Page 7 of The Hellion and the Captain
“Emmaline!”
Emmaline laughed and stepped past Lily into the house.
“I’m jesting. I’m happy for you, Lily. You know that. Good morning, Colin.”
“‘Morning, Emmaline.”
“Practice tonight?”
“Yes, actually,” he said, fixing her with a quizzicalstare. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess,” she said with a shrug, her heart beating faster when she realized her mistake. Why had she even raised the topic? “Or perhaps Lily mentioned it to me.”
“I don’t think so,” Lily said, but she didn’t seem overly concerned.
Emmaline eyed her before looking back at Colin. Could she trust that Lily would keep her secret from her husband? She didn’t have much choice at this point. Besides, Lily was likely to discover it eventually, for it would become rather obvious if this went much further.
“Have a good day,” Lily said, stepping into Colin’s embrace and fixing his cravat right before he placed a kiss on her lips.
“Same to you,” he said. “I will see you later.”
On that note, he walked out the front door, still looking backward as he and Lily stared longingly at one another. Once he had finally left, Emmaline stood and waved to Lily.
“Are you there? Or have you walked out the door with your husband?”
“I’m sorry, Emmaline,” Lily said, although she didn’t appear overly apologetic. “I just cannot help myself.”
“I understand,” Emmaline said with a wave of her hand. “Those footballers have quite the respectable bottoms.”
Fortunately, Lily knew when she was teasing, as she chuckled, before motioning Emmaline toward the back of the house. “Come. Mrs. O’Connor sent cookies.”
“Oooh, are they the cinnamon ones with bits of chocolate?”
“They are,” Lily said with a grin, and they sat and enjoyed two each before Lily placed her hands over one another in front of her on the round dining table. “Now, tell me what you came here for.”
“What do you mean?”
Lily tilted her head to look at her, those beautiful blue eyesdancing. “Emmaline, I have known you for so many years that I know better than anyone when you are hiding something, and you are most definitely keeping something from me.”
Emmaline hadn’t realized how obvious she was. Hopefully, Lily was right, and she only noticed because of their close relationship.
“You are correct that I am hiding something,” she admitted. “But the only reason I haven’t told you yet is because I wasn’t sure if it would come to anything.”
“And now it is?” When Lily’s eyes lit up, Emmaline realized that she was hoping Emmaline would say she had found a man she was interested in. Little did she realize that Emmaline hoped to jointenother men, not just one.
Lily waited.
“I’m playing football,” Emmaline finally blurted out, and Lily’s eyes widened, primarily at the explosiveness of her words.
“In the clearing?” Lily said, her brows knitting together. She knew that Emmaline enjoyed practicing now and again, and when forced, Lily had stood in the clearing and blocked a few shots for her, although she preferred to read in the shade of a tree while Emmaline kicked the ball around.
“Well, of course, I will always practice out there. But that is not what I mean. I am trying out to play for… Manchester Central.”
Lily’s gasp was one of true shock, and Emmaline knew she rarely ever surprised her friend anymore.
“Manchester Central, as in… Colin’s team? The club my father sponsors?”
“That’s the one.”
