He didn't love her, yet, but he was definately deep into obsession. Which in my opinion is far more dangerous because it can turn into something nasty so very quickly.
In this I mean, yes he was out to kill her (which is nasty in itself, of coure) but it could have easily turned into a realisation that if he killed her outright, his obsession would be gone forever, leaving an emptiness in its place.
He would never have chickened out at this point, but it's a toss-up whether he would have sired her to keep the obsession going and transforming it into something more sinister adding an element of control over her or he would have killed her and then beat himself up about it forever (or at least until he found a new obsession).