The Belle and the Blacksmith (Scandals and Scores #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Minnie breathed in the energy crackling in the wind as she stepped out of the carriage, her mother at her side. The Manchester docks bustled with activity as the salty sea air whipped a sense of freedom at her face, carrying with it the shouts of dock workers and the creaking of ships.

As much as she would have liked to have dallied and enjoyed the docks, her mother tugged her along, into the looming red brick building beneath the sign reading Hanson & Draper Shipping Co., welcoming them in.

Inside, the cavernous warehouse buzzed with activity, clerks scribbling furiously at their desks while laborers hauled crates to and fro.

Minnie's keen eyes darted around the commotion, taking in the towering shelves stacked high with goods from far-flung corners of the empire. Her father's business was thriving, a testament to his tireless work ethic and excellent choice in business partners.

Minnie had always been curious about the countries where those goods had originated, but as vast as her father’s shipping empire was, her own life had been relatively confined to Manchester and a few countryside retreats.

It wasn’t the place that trapped her, however.

It was the people – the same people, wanting the same things from her, day after day, suffocating her with their demands and expectations.

It was why she had loved the new company she kept with Lily, Emmaline, and the football club.

They appreciated her for who she was and not what she looked like or for her family connections.

“Now, just where is your father?” her mother said with a frown, craning her neck from one side to the other. “He said he would be waiting at the door of the warehouse for us to travel to dine together. We most likely should have waited in the carriage, but…”

But she had been too concerned with who might approach them if they had.

“I don’t mind,” Minnie murmured. “I like to see where he works, where all of the business is accomplished.”

“It is not that,” her mother said, eyeing her. “Do you not see the way the men are looking at you?”

“I hardly think men look at me anymore here than they do elsewhere,” Minnie said modestly as she looked at her mother. She had inherited her mother’s curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes, pale skin, and rosy cheeks.

While she appreciated the gifts her mother constantly reminded her about, gifts her mother was convinced could help her find a husband above their station, Minnie considered them as much of a curse as a blessing, for it was seldom that any man cared about anything beyond her looks.

“But these are dock workers,” her mother hissed, and Minnie rolled her eyes.

“Trust me, Mother, that does not make them altogether different from any other men of my acquaintance.”

“Be that as it may, let us find your father’s office,” her mother said, looping her arm through Minnie’s and leading her across the warehouse floor. As they approached the office, raised voices caught Minnie’s attention.

A red-faced supplier was gesticulating wildly, his booming voice overpowering the flustered clerk attempting to placate him.

Minnie paused mid-step, her mother’s arm still looped through hers, as the argument carried across the warehouse floor.

“The shipment was due Tuesday,” the clerk stammered. “Mr. Draper said—”

“I don’t give a fig for Draper’s schedule,” the portly, bearded supplier snapped. “I’ve my own customers clamouring for goods. You’ll take what I give, when I give it, or see your warehouses empty next month.”

The clerk swallowed hard, his fingers trembling over the ledger.

Minnie drew in a quiet breath, feeling her mother’s grip tighten in silent warning as she tried to tug Minnie toward her father’s office, for she anticipated Minnie’s reaction. She wasn’t going to stand around and listen to the kind-faced clerk being treated like this.

“Pardon the interruption,” Minnie said, pulling her arm out of her mother’s grasp, ignoring the barely disguised groan as she stepped forward, her voice carrying with unexpected authority. “But Mr. Draper’s schedule is what ensures your payment, is it not?”

The supplier blinked at her, frowning. “And who might you be, miss?”

“Minnie Draper.” She inclined her head and shot him what she knew was a disarming smile. “Mr. Draper’s daughter – and, today, his representative. Now, let us discuss how we can resolve this amicably.”

The supplier eyed her warily, but Minnie's confident demeanor gave him pause. With a curt nod, he followed her to a nearby table and reluctantly began to negotiate. Minnie’s mind raced as she made sense of the supply and demand in this instance.

Slowly, with her practical suggestions, the man calmed and eventually agreed to her proposition, which was not so different from the original terms of the agreement.

A grudging smile had replaced his scowl. "You drive a hard bargain, Miss Draper," he conceded, inclining his head toward her. "But a fair one. We have a deal."

Minnie watched him walk away with a triumphant gleam in her eye. As the supplier took his leave, she turned to find her father watching her, arms crossed over his chest, a mixture of pride and concern on his face.

"Minnie, my dear, that was... remarkable," he said, shaking his head in wonder. "You have a gift, although I would prefer that you use that gift in negotiations less… transactional."

Even as he praised her skills, Minnie could sense the unspoken reservation in his tone and prepared herself for the chastisement to come during the luncheon – that she was meant to be seen and not heard.

No matter her talents, her ultimate fate was to be a wife and mother, not a businesswoman in her own right.

Her father was leading them along the docks toward the waiting carriage when her ears perked up.

Was that group of men discussing Manchester Central?

It wouldn’t be unheard of, not with football growing in popularity among all the classes, but Minnie herself had picked up a new interest in the club after her friends had become so involved.

She slowed her step as she tried to listen.

“They’re playing the Athletics again on Saturday,” one man said, his excitement infectious.

“After beating them last season?”

“Soundly at that.”

“With the woman…”

Their conversation faded as Minnie and her parents reached the carriage, but she couldn’t help that her mind was still on the football pitch. She remembered firsthand what it was like to attend a match, to lose herself in the roar of the crowd and the thrill of the game.

The only time she had attended, she had been the guest of her friends Lily and Emmaline.

Lily, whose grandfather was the Hanson in partnership with her father, was now married to one of the footballers.

At the time, Emmaline had been playing with the team, in a disguise that only a few of them had known about.

Minnie had played a fun role in that part of the drama, but it had been over sooner than she would have wished.

She had been quick to agree to help Emmaline, for it had given her something of interest to do in her otherwise dull life.

Since then, the season had finished and Minnie had no other reason to attend, although she did enjoy any social event Lily and Emmaline invited her to, along with their husbands and the football club.

It wasn’t just the football she wanted to see again, however, but a certain centre fielder whose quick grin, deep dimples, and twinkling eyes she couldn’t get out of her mind. That, and the flirtatious way he spoke to her, was quick enough to excite her.

In fact, if she didn’t know better, she could see him watching her, from just beyond the docks.

Which was a ridiculous thought. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. There was no reason for Tommy Ward to be here. She was sure he had far better things to do with his time.

Her daydreams were wrenched from him and the all-too-brief time they had spent together when she entered the carriage, and her mother immediately started in on her about keeping herself out of her father’s business.

“You’ll make a fine wife someday, Minnie, and run a successful household,” her father said.

Her mother nodded enthusiastically as she added on, “It’s time to focus on finding a suitable match.”

A suitable match.

She had tried to find one. In fact, it was the only thing she had been given to do. But every man she met just promised her a continued monotonous existence.

So far, she had come up short in finding anyone who could provide her the sense of excitement she longed for.

If she had lived two centuries prior, she had a feeling she would have ended up on a pirate ship with a mysterious captain to entertain her, but alas, none had appeared on her doorstep thus far.

Perhaps it was time to look elsewhere and find a man of her own.

She knew just where to start.

The football season was beginning again. Minnie needed to find a way to be there. At least a football match would provide something she had found nowhere else in her life — an unpredictable outcome.

Tommy grinned in exhilaration as he twirled around, flicking the ball between the feet of the defender, before breaking past him toward the goal lying in wait.

He missed having Emmaline on the right side of the field, for he had always been able to count on her being there, ready to score.

Joey was a good player, but he was slightly slower than he had been before, still not able to place the entirety of his weight on his injured knee — he likely would never be able to – but he had improved enough to rejoin them and keep up.

So, instead, Tommy streaked alone toward the goal, sending the ball flying into the top right corner of the net.

He wheeled back around, arms raised above him victoriously.

“See that?” he called out to Colin. “Under the top bar!”

Colin Thornton, his closest friend since they were children, rolled his eyes at him, although he did smile and clap his hands together to congratulate Tommy.

Colin was probably the best football player Tommy had ever seen, yet he had one major flaw when it came to shooting the ball — it was often a foot or so too high.

“Good game, Tom,” their captain, Rhys Lockwood, called out, patting a hand on his back as the players began to file off the field toward the bathhouse at the back of Pomona Gardens, where they changed after the games.

Tommy was just about to walk through the door when he stopped so abruptly that Colin cursed as he ran into the back of him.

“What the hell, Tommy?”

He didn’t care what any of them had to say to him, however, for his gaze was focused on one spot in the stands.

There she was. The woman who had haunted his dreams for over a year, from the moment he had first seen her one evening at a dinner held at Colin and Lily’s.

The first night that he — Tommy Ward, the man who could charm any woman of any age, of any status — hadn’t been able to work up the courage to even speak to her.

Minnie Draper.

The second time he had seen her, she had been posing as the companion of the person known at the time as his teammate Emmett Williams, although he had turned out to be a fraud and none other than Emmaline, who was now married to the captain.

After a few pints of liquid courage, he had spoken to Minnie more than he should have that night, considering that she was allegedly with one of his teammates.

But now — now she was fair game.

He grinned.

He had seen her the other day on the docks when he had been running an errand, but she hadn’t spotted him.

Even if she had, it would mean nothing to her, considering she would be no stranger to admirers.

He had followed her into the warehouse like a lovesick puppy, had watched the way she had interacted with the irate supplier.

It made him want her all the more.

Seeing her with her parents, all dressed in their finery, their carriage as opulent as any noble’s, he had also been reminded that her life was far removed from his and she would have no lack of deserving suitors.

“Good thing I was with you all today or you lot would have been in trouble,” he joked, pushing Minnie from his mind as they walked into the room, and he lifted his shirt over his head.

His cotton uniform had trapped the heat of the September sun against his skin. While he would have preferred a cold bath at the moment, he would make do with towelling off in the water basin and changing into a fresh shirt.

“Did you save all the goals and hold off all the defenders as well, Tom?” Rhys asked, raising a brow, and Tommy laughed, aware that his teammates knew he was jesting, for the truth was, this club meant everything to him.

He would do anything to continue playing football, especially with the men who were standing beside him.

Even if he didn’t share all of his secrets with them.

The letter he had received yesterday morning was sitting on his desk in the small room above the blacksmith shop where he apprenticed, not far from his mind despite his best attempts to focus on football and the men before him.

Perhaps he would have to distract himself with something else tonight. Or, rather, someone else.

“Everyone headed to The King’s Head?” he asked, looking around, finding answering nods.

“’Course,” was the resounding response, and he eyed Colin and Rhys.

“Your wives coming?”

Rhys snorted. “Do you think Emmaline could be kept away?”

They laughed at that, for their captain’s wife had become as much a part of their team as any other player.

“She bringing any friends?” Tommy asked, deciding that there was no point in trying to dance around the topic. His teammates were all well aware of his interest in Minnie Draper.

“I have no idea if Miss Draper will be there,” Rhys said wryly.

“But she was with the ladies at the match tonight,” Colin added, wiggling his eyebrows. “So, chances are good, Tom.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Rhys interjected, and Tommy clutched his chest.

“I’m hurt, Captain. Would Miss Draper not look like perfection on my arm?”

“Until you left her for the next woman to catch your eye.”

Tommy scoffed, pretending to be mortally wounded.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Rhys,” he said confidently. “For no one could surpass Miss Draper.”

“You sound like a man in love already.”

“Maybe I am, Rhys,” Tommy said wistfully. “Maybe I am.”