Page 8 of The Hellion and the Captain
“How? When? Where? No, Colin would have?—”
“He doesn’t know.”
“How is that possible? They had tryouts last week, did they not?”
“They did,” Emmaline agreed. “Did Colin mention an Emmett Williams after practice?”
Lily gasped so loudly when she realized the truth that Emmaline nearly fell over backward.
“Emmaline!” Lily hissed. “You are Emmett Williams?”
“I am, indeed,” she said proudly. “I am glad to hear Colin didn’t see through my disguise. It must be better than I thought.”
“I think we are missing the point,” Lily said, placing the back of her hand against her forehead. “Emmaline, I know you have been part of many schemes in the past, but this is… this is… outrageous.”
Emmaline fixed her with a look.
“Is it any more outrageous than the daughter of a viscount marrying a footballer who also happened to be a factory worker?”
Lily bit her lip. “Likely not,” she acquiesced. “But Emmaline, if you are found out?—”
“Then what?” she said with a shrug. “Then no one will ever marry me? That is already the case. I am too loud, too opinionated, too unchaperoned. Men see me as a bit of fun, but none has ever shown any intention of wanting more than a stolen moment in a dark corner of a garden.”
“Oh, Emmaline, that is not true.”
“Is it not?” Emmaline said. “What do you suppose I am doing now, Lily? I am five and twenty, same as you, and I have not yet found a man who I am interested in, who in turn has any true interest in me. My parents already have grandchildren through my brothers, and they do not care if I marry. My mother enjoys my company, and my brothers are happy to look after me if they must. Not that I would need any looking after.”
She sniffed loudly at the last part. She did have a plan for her future, ifit came to that.
Her eldest brother was prepared to take over her father’s title one day, hopefully in the distant future. In the meantime, he was learning the ways by managing one of her father’s secondary estates. Her second eldest brother was at school at Eton and would soon work with her grandfather in the shipping business. Emmaline had decided that if she must, she could try to work with him as well.
It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was better than nothing.
Lily already knew all of that, but what she didn’t know were Emmaline’s plans to have some fun in the time between.
“You know how much I love to play football, Lily,” she said, leaning forward and taking Lily’s hand between hers. “I love it more than any man I have ever met seems to – including Colin, and you know how much he lives for the game. How is it fair that I must give it up because I am a woman?”
“Many things are not fair, Emmaline.”
“True as that may be, I refuse to stand for it.”
“You are following your mother.”
“Perhaps, and I am happy for it. I might not have aspirations to change the world for women as she does, but I would like to try to change the sport.”
“There are women’s leagues?—”
“Which I have tried. Once they found out who I was, none of them wanted me. They told me I would become a spectacle for the team if I continued to defy my family and play with them.”
“You truly have thought of an answer to every objection.”
“I certainly have, as I went through them all myself.”
Lily stared at her, blinking a few times before she smiled in resignation.
“Well, then,” she said, “what can I do to help you?”
“I thought you would never ask!” Emmaline said gleefully. “I need some clothing. I had some of my brother, Freddie’s,old clothes, but they seem to have walked away. Does Colin happen to have anything we might be able to alter?”
