proud-and-protective

[Unregistered]

Hi all, I'm trying to translate the following sentence (from Ian McEwan: Chesil Beach):

'PROUD AND PROTECTIVE, the young man watched closely for any gesture or expression that might have seemed satirical. '
(situation: dinner after wedding, only young couple plus waiters present, the young man mentioned is the husband, the gesture would be the waiters)

What I do not understand is the word PROTECTIVE here. Google is telling me that proud and protective often go together, and most of the sentences Google brings up with this expression make sense to me (proud and protective of a child, younger sibling, home etc) but here I cannot understand how 'protective' comes into the picture. I would be very grateful if someone could explain. Thanks a lot.
Vea

[Anglika]

The young man [who is feeling proud because he has married the girl he wants and loves] is feeling that he must protect his wife from any possible aggressive or insulting behaviour.