“Really,” Vail blinked when Victoria said he was welcome in her home. The maid had granted him entrance once that night, but he hadn’t assumed that he would be permitted to come and go as he pleased when it became apparent that he was the Crest heiress’s forbidden lover. As far as he was aware, she was still technically engaged to Lord Spencer, and the Saints had been firm in their decision to uphold their union. By getting involved, he was directly hindering their plans. He also wasn’t used to their unusual relationship being tolerated by others. His father had been adamant that they were fools for trying to be together, and on some level, he had assumed that anyone else who found out about them would agree with the Hygrace leader. It surprised him that she was so confident that her family and their servants would be comfortable with letting him in through the front door every few days to see her.

As Victoria went on to say that he should make himself decent for her mother, his eyes widened slightly. He had heard Diana enter the manor, but he’d assumed she would retire to her own quarters without stopping by to check on them. Now that she mentioned it, though, he perceived the distant sound of footsteps approaching her bedroom. The thought of facing the widow in her own home unsettled him. When he had confronted her on the doorstep of the Hygrace estate, he had been in his family’s territory and he hadn’t just been intimate with her daughter. They had only spoken about serious matters as well. During that short period of time, they hadn’t truly been introduced to one another, and he found the current situation—scrambling to dress himself after fooling around with Lady Crest in her bathtub—a less than ideal way to meet for a second time.

Despite his qualms, there wasn’t time to protest before Victoria proceeded to pin her hair up and head for the door, so he pushed down his unease and quickly slipped his clothes back on. From behind the dividing wall of the bathroom, he could hear their conversation plainly. Unsurprisingly, Peter had disregarded Diana’s advice about the Wynters. He had expected nothing more, since his father refused to see that the tactic that had kept the Hygraces safe for decades had an expiration date. It was still discouraging to hear that the stubborn patriarch hadn’t even taken her warning into consideration though. He sighed to himself, leaning his shoulders against the wall and folding his arms over his chest while he continued to listen to the two Crest women talk.

The next subject to arise was the bite mark he had left on Victoria’s neck, of course. Vail remained planted out of sight in the bathroom, fully dressed but reluctant to make an appearance just yet. He ruminated on Diana’s words. The widow was understandably concerned about the fact that he was still feeding on her daughter’s sweet blood, but it wasn’t like he was trying to put her at risk of infection. Every time he bit her, he took every precaution to minimize her pain and keep the wound clean. Short of giving up access to her veins completely, there was nothing else he could do to protect her, and he was too addicted to the vitalizing effects to do that.

[i]My intentions,[/i] the thought resonated in his head. Truth be told, even he wasn’t entirely sure what his intentions were in the long term. If it had been solely up to him, he would have whisked her away in an instant and made her his wife, but everything was much too complicated for that. All he could do for now was love her in the present and hope that they would find a way to be together in spite of the barriers between them. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.

The subject changed again, and this time Vail knitted his brows skeptically. His ears were keen enough to detect the subtle palpitation of Diana’s heartbeat when she said that she knew someone whom had been impregnated by a vampire before. She was lying to Victoria. Privately, he wondered why she would be dishonest with her daughter about such a thing, but seeing as it wasn’t his place to get in the middle of it, he said nothing as he finally stepped out from behind the wall. His hazel gaze traveled over the older woman with a reticent but knowing look, the only giveaway that he was aware of what she had done.

Still unsure how to approach the widow when he wasn’t as familiar with her as he was with his human lover, he merely came to a stop at Victoria’s side and acknowledged Diana with an incline of his head, “Lady Crest.”