“Who are the telegrams from?” she asked, focusing on her task and avoiding his gaze.
“Your parents. A friend. Nathaniel.”
At the mention of Nathaniel, her hands stilled. “You told Nathaniel where I am?”
“Yes.”
Her shoulders sagged like the wet laundry.
Was she disappointed that their time here was over? He knew he shouldn’t feel any satisfaction that she’d rather be with him than Nathaniel, but he couldn’t help it.
“I didn’t think you wanted anyone to know where I was,” she finally said.
“Read the telegram and you’ll understand.”
Finally, she turned back to him and reluctantly took the envelopes. She opened Nathaniel’s telegram first. The typed print was longer than any telegram Tom had ever seen and had probably cost quite a bit to send. But then again, money wasn’t an issue for a man like Nathaniel.
Color drained from Victoria’s face as she read. When she came to the bottom of the note, she lifted her gaze to his. Her beautiful honey-brown eyes were wide with hurt. “Why does he think the wedding is happening again in two weeks?”
The look, the tone, the stance all begged him to deny what he’d done, or at the very least give her an explanation that would ease her pain. His chest tightened with the need to give in. He wanted to pull her into his arms and never let her go.
But he swallowed his emotions. He couldn’t cave in to his selfish desires again. Victoria was better off with a man like Nathaniel, who could give her the kind of life she needed and understand the world she belonged to. Sure, she could adjust to living at Race Point for a few weeks. But she’d grow tired of it eventually and long for all she’d left behind, the glamour and shopping and maids. Tom would never be able to give her a life even close to that.
Besides, if he wanted to have a relationship with Victoria, he’d have to quit his bodyguarding. It was demanding work—the kind of job he wouldn’t be able to easily leave behind every night to go home to a wife. And if he quit protecting people, what kind of employment would be available to him besides being a light keeper or assistant keeper? Such work would be filled with too many of the memories he wanted to leave in the past.
No, any chance of having a relationship with Victoria was over. He shouldn’t have allowed himself to harbor any hope that they could have something in the first place. Now it was best not to prolong the separation.
“You’re marrying Nathaniel in two weeks.” He forced the words, even though his heart tore as he said them.
For a moment she seemed at a loss for a response. Then her brows furrowed and her eyes began to cloud with a coming storm. “Maybe you’ve ordered my life and told me what to do in everything else, but not in this. You can’t choose whom I marry.”
“It’s already been arranged.” He nodded at the other telegrams that she held. “That’s why Nathaniel’s mother sent you a message too. Mrs. Winthrop is helping with the planning.”
“I called off my engagement with Nathaniel, and I have no intention of marrying him anymore.” Her tone turned icy. “Not in two weeks, two months, or two years.”
“You belong with him.”
She pushed aside the wet garments that hung listlessly in the damp air and launched herself against him, wrapping her arms around him. “I belong to you, Tom.” She laid her head against his chest. “I want you. Only you.”
Heaven help him. He gritted his teeth and fisted his hands to keep from doing the thing he wanted to most—hold her close. Instead, he counted to five silently and then pried her loose. As he set her away, the chagrin in her expression was too difficult to witness.
He turned and started crossing to the house. He hated himself for hurting her. But he had no other choice. “Once you’re with Nathaniel again, you’ll see that I’m right.”
“You can push me away.” Her skirt swished as she followed him. “But you can’t push me back to Nathaniel.”
He kept walking.
“Even if you throw away what we have, I won’t marry him. I’ll write to him today and tell him.”
Her words stopped him. He spun and retraced his steps. “Don’t you dare.”
She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I’m sending a note back with Jimmy.” With that she made to sweep around him toward the house.