A Great Catch by Lorna Seilstad Read Free Book Online Page A

ever-so-slight smile told her he’d heard her.
    “I’m very sorry, Mr. Wormsley. It slipped.”
    He rubbed his head. “I thought this was a safe game.”
    “I’m sure it usually is.” Guilt washed over her. Unless I’m around.
    Carter squeezed the man’s shoulder. “Not every day you get knocked off your feet by a pretty girl, eh, friend?”
    “Are we friends?” Marion blinked owlishly.
    “Of course we are. You work for my dad.” Carter brushed the dirt off the man’s sleeve.
    “If I’d have known stepping out was this painful . . .”
    “Ah, but the company of the right girl is worth it.”
    Emily felt her cheeks burn. Did Carter believe she’d step out with Marion Wormsley? “We need to get him home.”
    “I’ll take him,” Carter offered. “I have to go into town anyway. That is, unless there’s more between the two of you . . .”
    “No!” Marion sat up straight. “I’m sorry, Miss Ethel, Miss Millie. I’m not sure courting your niece is going to work out.”
    Emily balled her fists. Dumped by Marion Wormsley! Could anything be worse?
    Carter snickered.
    So, it could get worse. Embarrassment flared to anger. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have a graceful bone in her five-foot-seven-inch body.
    If the horseshoe wasn’t so far away, she might try for another ringer. Only this time she’d ring Carter Stockton’s athletic little neck.

6
    Carter hopped off the open-air streetcar, tucked his leather glove beneath his arm, and jogged toward the dock. If he missed the electric launch to the other side of the lake, he’d be late for the Owls’ opening home game. He shouldn’t have offered to take poor Marion home, but he couldn’t imagine Emily and her aunts managing the ungainly man on their own.
    “Hey, hold up!” He waved his hat in the air, and the deck assistant paused in releasing the ropes. After thanking him, Carter hopped on board the launch and took an empty seat in the stern. The boat jetted away from the dock, the loud whir of the motor drowning out the conversation of the two ladies beside him.
    Carter glanced at the shore in the distance and then at his pocket watch. He groaned. He’d missed most of the time the team used to warm up, but the jog to the boat had to count for something. The trail of sweat trickling between his shoulder blades confirmed it.
    His insides heated a bit more as he pictured Emily’s flustered face, haloed by wisps of hair blown free in her haste to help poor, injured Marion. Did she have any idea how cute she was when her dander was up?
    Shaking his head, he pushed away the thought. This was Emily Graham, Martin’s little sister and an all-fired-up suffragette ready to take on the world. Besides, this summer was about baseball, not courting. His team was counting on him, and he had his own reason to focus on delivering an undefeated season.
    His brother.
    “You one of those Owls?” an overly freckled man asked above the din of the engine.
    Carter nodded toward him. “Yes, sir. Opening game tonight.”
    “Then what are you doing here?”
    “It’s a long story.” Unbidden, Emily’s image took shape in his mind once again. The corners of his mouth lifted. A horseshoe. He couldn’t imagine how she’d managed that. And what was someone as talented and lovely as she was doing stepping out with Marion Wormsley, of all people?
    “You boys any good?” the man called.
    “Sure hope so.” Carter rubbed his hands together, itching to get on the ball field. He sent up a silent prayer to get there in time.
    “What position do you play?”
    “Pitcher.” Carter eyed the field set nearly a quarter mile from Louie’s French Restaurant. Nerves tingling, he berated the launch’s speed as it devoured every precious minute he needed to warm up for the game. It skirted around the nearly completed, man-made peninsula of a pavilion, which they’d named the Kursaal. Since there’d be little time to do much before the game, he stretched his arm