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What reason would I have for harming her now?”
    “You threatened her life and forced her to allow you access to Vincent.”
    Guilt rose up inside Melanie, souring her stomach. Bastien had done no such thing, but had told Chris he had when interrogated. To protect her. Melanie had freely and willingly aided Bastien in seeing Vince that last time. But Bastien had feared she would lose her job and all credibility if she admitted as much.
    “That was then. This is now,” Bastien gritted.
    “I have no way of knowing what motivates you from one moment to the next,” John spoke evenly. “If you mean her no harm, you shouldn’t object to the added security.”
    Melanie could have sworn she actually heard Bastien’s teeth grind together.
    “So be it,” he said again and headed for the back doors.
    The tension in her Chevy as they left the network was about a twenty-one on a scale of one to ten. Bastien sat beside Melanie in the passenger seat, large and powerful even when not in motion. Two soldiers sat in the backseat, automatic weapons in hand.
    “I’m going to have to ask you to take your fingers off the triggers, gentlemen,” Bastien said after several long minutes, his gaze on the darkened scenery that zipped past outside his window. “There are a lot of bumps in North Carolina’s roads that could precipitate an accidental discharge.”
    In the rearview mirror, Lanie saw the men exchange smug glances.
    “If it happens, it happens,” one drawled.
    Bastien continued to stare out the window. “If you should accidentally shoot me, I’ll merely break your arms and all of your fingers to prevent such stupidity from happening a second time,” he said blandly. “But if you accidentally shoot Dr. Lipton , I’ll rip your throats out so swiftly you’ll bleed to death before the men in the vehicles behind us even realize something has gone wrong. Just something for you to consider.”
    Again the men exchanged a look, this one neither smug nor confident. Both shifted, removing their fingers from the triggers she assumed.
    “A wise decision,” Bastien commented.
    Thanks to an unusual amount of traffic on the road, they were late arriving at David’s sprawling one-story estate.
    Bastien opened and exited his door before Melanie could remove the key from the ignition. Grabbing her purse, she reached for the door handle only to have it slide from her grasp as Bastien opened the door for her.
    He held out a hand.
    Surprised, she took it and exited the car. “Thank you.” Her pulse picked up, doing jumping jacks as though she were a girl out on her first date.
    Nodding, he released her hand and eyed the soldiers clambering out of the back. “Your services are no longer needed. A number of immortals and their Seconds are inside. I’m sure they can keep my violent impulses in check.”
    “Our orders are to stay close until Dr. Lipton leaves your company,” one said, then met Melanie’s exasperated gaze. “We’ll be out here if you need us.”
    She doubted they would listen if she tried to send them on their way, so she nodded and headed for David’s front door.
     
     
    David maintained an open-door policy in all of his residences. Anyone with the access code—human, gifted one , or immortal—was welcome to enter and make him- or herself at home no matter the hour.
    Bastien guided Melanie up to the front door with a hand on the small of her back. If anyone asked, he would say he did so to provoke the soldiers currently glaring holes in him. But he really just wanted to touch her again.
    When he had taken her hand and helped her from the vehicle . . . the emotions that had flooded him where they had touched had taken his breath away. Excitement. Attraction. A touch of shyness. All of the things he felt himself when he looked at her. At Melanie.
    He only allowed himself to speak her first name in his thoughts, hoping verbal formality would help him remember to keep his distance.
    Bastien punched the code into the