feel her cheeks heating. Could her parents sense her meaning?
Apparently her father could, because he turned a fierce scowl upon Tom. “You better not have taken advantage of my daughter.”
Tom didn’t respond. He was a man of so much honor that he probably considered a few stolen kisses a crime. He wouldn’t rise to his own defense. He’d likely allow her father to think the worst of him.
Sure enough, the silence incited her father, and he lunged at Tom again.
“No!” Victoria shouted, moving in front of Tom and coming face to face with her father’s anger. Tom attempted to slide around her, but she fought him. “Tom’s been honorable. He’s a good man. Just like you, Father.”
Her father stilled. He glared at Tom but allowed Mother to pull him back.
“Even though we’re married,” Victoria continued, “Tom has kept our relationship chaste.” She wanted to hide her face at the awkwardness of their conversation. But she must defend him, since he wouldn’t do it for himself.
Again silence fell around them. Thankfully, the couple at the counter had taken their leave and the proprietor had discreetly disappeared, leaving them alone in the lobby. Her mother tucked her arm around her father. At the embrace, her father seemed to shrink into her. His shoulders deflated, and the stiffness in his features gave way to grooves that showed his age.
Victoria’s heart twisted with remorse that she’d caused her father so much worry and pain.
Behind her, Tom reached for her hand and wrapped his strong fingers around hers. The pressure soothed her and reminded her that he loved her. He would stand beside her, and together they would build a new life.
Her father finally released a sigh that was laced with weariness and defeat. “You understand that if you go through with your plans, you’ll alienate yourself from your friends. Very few will understand or accept your decision.”
She squeezed Tom’s hand, hoping to ease the bluntness of her father’s words. “I don’t care. If friends reject me because of the man I love, then they weren’t worth having as friends.”
“Victoria,” Tom started to protest.
She shook her head at him. “I mean it. I don’t care.”
“Your father’s right,” Tom said. “You’ll likely become an outcast if you marry me.”
Her father glanced at Tom again, and this time he seemed to study him more carefully, as though finding an ally instead of an enemy. The thought of the two of them joining forces made Victoria’s heart quaver.
“You married Mother,” she said quickly. “She wasn’t from among your elite circle of friends. In the long run, it didn’t matter. Did it?”
Her father opened his mouth as if to retort but closed it. He drew his mother closer and turned and kissed her cheek.
The tautness in Tom’s hold began to loosen. Was he feeling the same relief that she was? She was tempted to pull him into a hug. But her father swung his attention back on them, on her.
“If Tom is really the man you want, then I’ll do everything I can to help you both—”
“With all due respect, sir,” Tom interrupted, “I can’t accept your charity. I won’t be beholden to—”
“If you want my daughter,” Father’s voice rose, “then you’ll accept my charity, whether you want it or not.”
Tom pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes on Father. Victoria could sense that he wanted to object but was holding himself back.
Her father rose to his full height and cocked his head first at Tom and then toward the door. “I think it’s time we head down to the tavern and have a good long talk about the future and how you plan to take care of my daughter.”
Victoria didn’t relish the thought of her father and Tom planning her future without her input. But when Tom squeezed her hand and she looked up into his eyes, something there asked her to trust him.
She nodded and let go.
“In the meantime,” her father said with a tender glance toward her. “I think you and your mother have a busy day ahead.”
“We do?”
He smiled. “Yes. You need to plan a wedding.”
She nodded, her throat constricting.
“Make it beautiful and spare no expense,” he said, his eyes filling with love.
She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. “I love you, Daddy.”
Chapter 24
Victoria pressed a hand against her stomach to stop the wild crashing, but no matter how many times she attempted to calm the churning, her nerves wouldn’t stop acting like a stormy sea. She retraced her steps to the