Vail wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he corrected Victoria, but a hostile confrontation certainly wasn’t it. As she stomped up to him so they were practically nose to nose, he tensed involuntarily. While he didn’t really think she was intimidating—perhaps under better circumstances, he might have even found the situation comical—her close proximity made him uncomfortable. He disliked the confusing sensations it caused him. Her words were frustrating, but her feminine smell and the subtle heat of her body were exciting. He found himself both drawn and repulsed at the same time, and he couldn’t decide which impulse to act on.

However, as the Lady continued to speak about her father, Vail was distracted from his conflicted emotions. He frowned, catching sight of a glimmer of tears in her eyes. Not paying much attention to the affairs of the Order, he’d forgotten about Lord Alexander’s recent passing—and that the Saint’s daughter was still grieving. He nearly winced at the realization. Even though he knew it was dangerous for him to sympathize with a victim, it was hard to ignore her pain when she was planted mere inches before his face. Perhaps it was the reason why she had been wandering late at night so often too; a morbid desire to escape the grief.

When Victoria brought up the Saint who had attacked him the night before, Vail had to bite his tongue to keep himself from pointing out that she was the one who had spoken his name out loud in the Black Bull tavern. He was sure that was how the man had found him, but, knowing there was no point in arguing with her over it, he kept his mouth shut. She obviously had more than enough going with her father’s recent death as it was. Fighting over something in the past that couldn’t be changed wouldn’t help either of them.

As she made one last doleful comment and turned around to walk away from him, Vail stared after her, suddenly unsure what to do. Just minutes before, he had been prepared to abandon the Lady and go back to his own family’s manor without a care as to what became of her. However, now that he had seen the kind of emotional state she was in, he felt quite certain she wouldn’t survive to see the dawn if he left her alone now. Any vampire who tracked her down while she was this distraught would have himself an easy meal.

He glanced wistfully over his shoulder, down the street that would carry him home. As much as he would have liked to forget about the Crest heiress and go to bed, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he walked away now. He may not have been the kind of gentleman who help a Lady out of the goodness of his heart, but he had at least enough of a moral compass not to willingly throw her to the dogs.

Having come to a decision, Vail lifted his gaze briefly to the starry sky before jogging to catch up with Victoria. He casted her a sideways glance when he reached her side and then looked ahead to avoid her grief-stricken eyes. “I’ll walk you home,” he muttered, his words more of a statement than an invitation. It felt strange to him to accompany a woman he had just fed on, but he forced himself to endure the discomfort for the sake of making sure she returned to the Crest manor without any more trouble.