For half a second, Vail was uncertain if Victoria would take his side or not. He held her gaze as she glared at him, tensed to run if she chose to let her emotions get the best of her and allow the Saints to continue their hunt. After a moment, he had his answer when she signaled to the two men to stay away, but the tone of her voice was as cold as ice, and he disliked the way she referred to him as ‘this vampire.’ Despite how close they had gotten over the past few weeks, it seemed she had become convinced that he only saw her as a plaything. He wasn’t going to leave until he expressed just how wrong she was.

Once the Saints had left the kitchen and closed the door behind them, he relaxed his shoulders against the wall. Victoria was armed, but he didn’t expect her to attack him without a reason. He tracked her with his gaze as she propped herself up on the table, reminded of why he had found her so enchanting when they’d met as she squared up to him across the room. Even though she was clearly hurting, there was no fear in her brilliant blue eyes, and every motion of her lithe body had an underlying sense of cockiness that made his blood run hot. It was a good thing he hadn’t actually led her on, because she wasn’t a woman he would have wanted to make an enemy regardless of their romantic involvement.

At her rather masochistic question, Vail frowned. “I wouldn’t know,” he answered, folding his arms loosely over his chest. As much as he would have liked to close the distance between them, he was smart enough to stay put by the edge of the kitchen while she was emotional and armed with a silver weapon. He’d already had more than enough of the wretched metal after he’d burned his hand on the barrel of Ray’s gun. “I don’t have any interest in finding out either. The woman I was with was Lady Sylvia Macey, the partner my father chose for me. We spent the day together because our parents had arranged for it, but I swear to you nothing happened beyond that. I don’t want to be with anyone other than you, my love.”