CHAPTER ONE

Minnie breathed in the energy crackling in the air 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, enjoying her time walking the docks, her mother tugged her along, into the looming red brick building, a sign reading Hanson & Draper Shipping Co. emblazoned on the front, welcoming them in.

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

Minnie's keen eyes darted around the activity, 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 shrewd acumen and tireless work ethic. 

Minnie secretly would have loved to see firsthand 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. 

“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 of who might approach them to do so.

“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, her bright blue eyes, her 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 beyond their station, Minnie considered them as much of a curse as a blessing, for it was seldom that any man looked beyond her exterior to what was within.

“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 gesticulated 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 raised voices carried across the warehouse floor.

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

“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, tugging her arm out of her mother’s grasp and stepping 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 so 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, where they began to negotiate. Minnie's mind whirred as she deftly navigated the intricacies of supply and demand. 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 amazement 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. Society's expectations hung heavy in the air between them, a reminder that 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. 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, losing herself in the roar of the crowd and the thrill of a 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 was 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 helping Emmaline, for it had given her something of interest in her otherwise dull life. Since then, the season had finished, and she’d 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. 

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. 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,” her father said, her mother nodding 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 as he broke past him toward the goal lying in wait for him. 

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

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

He 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 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 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 had meant nothing to her, for she was sure that he was no one, considering the interest that was likely bestowed on her. He had followed her into the warehouse like a lovesick puppy, had watched the way she had interacted with the irate supplier.

It made her want him 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 he would not be the only man interested in her, and most others were likely far more deserving. 

“Good thing I was with you all today or you lot would have been in trouble,” he joked, pushing Minnie from as 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 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 more a part of their team than anyone else ever could have last season.

“She bringing any friends?” Tommy asked, deciding that there was no point in trying to dance around the topic. They 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 wounded. 

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

“You sound a man in love already.”

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

The Belle and the Blacksmith is available to preorder on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited.