"That is a bald-faced lie," Mina replied, taking a step closer to him. "I don't need anyone. You know what kind of people say that sort of thing? The people who need someone the most. I may not be as old as you are, my dear, but I've been on the outside , looking in, for a very long time. I've picked up on a few of the peculiarities of the living."

And more than that, Mina wanted to be right. About what sort of man this was, about his character. It was a small voice, buried deep in the back of her mind. But she knew it was there. And she wasn't going to accept him for a man who got what he wanted and then left.

Her ego wouldn't allow that.