“Oh, Sophia, you didn’t.” The woman with James stepped forward. “I apologize completely, for that and any other confusion we may have caused. I’m Talia Stamos, producer and screenwriter.”

“And this,” Talia gestured to the woman who still held Vic’s attention, “is our lead actress, Sophia LeBlanc, who’s currently flexing her method-acting muscles to prepare for playing the role of Princess Regina Alistair.”

Vic fought the urge to step back or collapse as all the tension left her body. She’d not interrupted a robbery, but rather stepped into a film scene with a Hollywood powerhouse. Embarrassment came quickly on the edge of her relief, but if Sophia could play the role of princess convincingly, then Vic could certainly summon enough gravitas to greet her properly.

Giving a small, stately bow, she extended her hand to Sophia. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Madam LeBlanc.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow before accepting Vic’s hand with a half-hearted squeeze. “Likewise, I’m sure.”

••••

“Don’t mind her,” Talia cut in, practically shoving Sophia’s arm out of the way and taking this Victoria woman’s hand with a weak half-bow, half-curtsey.

Sophia rolled her eyes as her friend began to fawn, pouring on every ounce of properness her little middle-class heart could muster.

“Your Ladyship, there seems to have been an error on the contracts we signed for our on-location shoots at Penchant Castle.” Talia tried again.

“Americans.” The butler, or whoever he was, offered the entirety of his explanation and handed his boss a small stack of papers.

Victoria scanned them quickly, her brow furrowing in a way that made her appear older than she’d initially seemed. The woman had gone through a myriad of shifts over the last few moments, though, so Sophia didn’t find her new, studious expression any more discordant than her entitlement as she’d demanded explanations, or her arousal as she’d surveyed Sophia like she might inspect one of the oil paintings on the walls all around them.

“We didn’t mean any disrespect, Your Ladyship,” Talia pressed. “We showed up on time, and we presented the contract to your staff, then went about our work as scheduled.”

“They presented their contract to a summer staff member who didn’t know any better, and he will be summarily fired upon reporting for work tomorrow,” Mr. Butler-Man stated drolly.

Victoria didn’t argue with the “off with their heads” proclamation as she flipped through to another page.

“We didn’t know there was a difference between summer staff and full-time staff,” Talia explained.

James shook his head as if he found this distasteful. “I was in the residence at the time, and before I even saw the removal van, they’d pulled into the courtyard and made off with several important pieces.”

“We followed all the procedures outlined in the contract,” Talia pointed out. “Local movers, no paintings, proper wrapping and padding of artifacts—”