wouldn’t have budged from her side. Even so, she shivered, in spite of the warmth of the room.
He returned a few minutes later, making his way through the crowded deck toward her, dodging children and carpetbags. When he lowered himself onto the bench, she was more relieved than she wanted to admit. Even though he didn’t say anything, she could see from his expression that whatever had happened didn’t involve her, that she was safe.
Although he took the spot next to her, he didn’t touch her again. She couldn’t deny she was disappointed. She’d rather liked the playacting. But she also realized how easily his merest touch affected her and that she’d need to be careful not to take things too far. Beside she’d promised Father that she’d do her best to behave. After all, she wanted to be able to walk away from this situation after a month with a clean conscience. And of course, Tom had promised her father that he’d keep their relationship professional. No matter what they did when they were acting, they had to remain faithful to their promises.
When the steamer finally docked and they disembarked, Victoria came to an abrupt halt halfway down the gangplank as she took in the little town before her. It contained none of the factories, big businesses, and bustling seaport trade of a large city. “This isn’t Boston.”
“You’re stopping traffic.” Tom took her elbow and guided her the rest of the way down.
Numerous long piers lined the waterfront along with all varieties of sailboats and sloops, some with sails raised and others empty and deserted. In addition to the piers, wharves and fish houses were built out over the water and were filled with rack after rack of fish laid out in the glaring summer sun.
As a gust of wind blew against her, so did the overpowering odor of the fish. She pressed a handkerchief against her nose to keep from gagging. “What are they doing with all the fish?”
“Salting and drying it.” Tom tugged her along the pier toward the sandy beach. “The salted cod used to be sent to sugar plantations in the West Indies as the basic food supply for slaves there. Even after slavery was abolished, it’s still remained the primary occupation and source of income here.”
“Where exactly is here?”
“At the top of Cape Cod in Provincetown.”
“Provincetown?” Beyond the busy waterfront, the town was quaint and pretty in a smallish sort of way. A tall steeple of a church rose above the roofs of plain clapboard homes, most painted white. Still others were constructed of the typical cedar, which was more resistant to the weathering and rot that came from being located on the sea.
A main road led away from the waterfront and wound through what appeared to be a downtown area with a few stores but certainly not a busy metropolitan full of shops, taverns, and people.
It reminded her of some of the Midwestern towns she’d stayed in when she’d gone with her father to visit his mining and lumber holdings in Michigan. Although she’d enjoyed being with her father and exploring a new region of the country, she’d been grateful when her father had shortened their itinerary because he’d missed seeing Mother. The small towns just hadn’t appealed to her.
“We can’t possibly stay here,” she said.
“We’re not.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
Tom guided her out of the flow of others disembarking around them. Once they were on the beach, he put their bags down and studied the piers to the east as though he were looking for someone.
The summer sun was unrelenting, and the treeless beach didn’t provide a spot of shade. The heat from the sand soaked through the thin leather of her shoes and through the layers of her bodice. Her parasol and fan were both in the bag. And her stomach was beginning to rumble after having gone without a meal since the simple breakfast she’d had on the Lady Caroline.
She glanced again toward the town, hoping to spot a restaurant or some place they could go to get out of the sun. “Since we’re here, we may as well explore the town,” she said, trying to remain optimistic while fanning her face with her lacy handkerchief.
“There’s no time.” Tom waved at a stooped shouldered man who was in the process of rolling up a fishing net. “Wait here.”
Without waiting for her to respond, he strode down the beach. She couldn’t stop herself from admiring his long, purposeful stride and the muscular