give you that reward, I need to give you something else first.” His voice was strained and his expression turned dark. Before Victoria could utter a word of protest, her father swung his fist and slammed it into Tom’s jaw with such force that the smack echoed in the lobby, drawing the attention of a couple who was standing at the front desk speaking with the proprietor.
“Father!” Victoria cried, but her father’s fist was swinging again and landed against Tom’s stomach. Her father wasn’t a particularly large man, but he was still strong enough to cause damage.
Tom gave a grunt at the impact but didn’t move. He’d apparently decided to let her father beat him up without a word of protest. From the determined set of his lips, Victoria knew he thought he deserved the punishment.
Arch moved to Tom’s side and reached out to block her father, but Tom only pushed the big man aside.
If he wouldn’t let Arch come to his defense, then she would have to. “Father, stop!” She grabbed her father’s arm before he could raise it for another blow. Her father didn’t fight against her hold, but he glared at Tom as if he’d like to wrap his fingers around Tom’s neck and strangle him.
When she’d told her parents in the telegram that she was marrying Tom instead of Nathaniel, she’d assumed her father would accept her decision because he’d always given her what her heart desired. Of course, she’d prepared herself for some resistance, at least initially. But she hadn’t expected him to attack Tom.
Her father didn’t move. Neither did Tom. He stared back, his open-legged stance giving the message that her father could continue to hit him as long and as hard as he wanted.
“Let me explain everything,” Victoria started, but her father shook his head and signaled her to silence.
“I’d prefer to hear from Mr. Cushman why he broke his promise to me.”
“I have no excuse, sir,” Tom replied.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t have you arrested and hauled off to jail.” Father took a menacing step closer to Tom and held up the document Tom had signed saying that he would walk away from their marriage at the end of the month.
Mother’s touch on his arm halted him. “Henry,” she softly chided.
Victoria was grateful for her mother’s presence and levelheadedness. Although Victoria had always been closer to Father, who’d doted on her whims, she could count on her mother for influencing her father when needed.
“I’m partly to blame too,” Arch said standing next to Tom, his large face chagrined. “I cajoled Tom into taking the position even when I knew his policy—”
“No. It’s not your fault, Arch,” Tom said. “I made my own decisions. Now I deserve any punishment Mr. Cole gives me. And I’ll willingly accept it. But it won’t change the fact that I love Victoria.” Only then did he look at her, his steady gaze beckoning her.
Her heart quavered at what he was asking. He wanted her to break free of her parents and come to him. He wanted her to be willing to give up everything to be with him if that’s what was necessary—all of her past, her wealth, even her connection to her family. He was asking her to show him that she was strong enough to make the sacrifice.
But was she?
She’d known Tom wouldn’t pamper her or try to make life easy, that he’d challenge her to do hard things, as he already had. But could she do this?
As if hearing her question, he nodded at her, a faint light in his dark blue eyes encouraging her to be brave. She swallowed the words of uncertainty and left her father’s side. She slipped her hand into the crook of Tom’s arm and smiled up at him, even if it felt faint.
“Tom didn’t break his promise to you, Father,” she said. “He kept a boundary between us until I asked him to stop being my bodyguard. I knew he wouldn’t consider me as a wife otherwise.”
Her father cradled his knuckles, red from the impact of hitting Tom. “It wasn’t your decision to terminate his employment.”
“I fell in love with Tom even before we came here. I think I’ve loved him all along.”
“Perhaps you’re simply infatuated,” her mother interjected. “After all, you’ve claimed to love others.”
“Tom is different.”
“That’s what you said about Nathaniel,” her mother said gently.
“This time it’s true.” She was passionate about Tom in a way she hadn’t been about anyone else. She could