“You might want to reserve judgement on that one until you meet the others.” Sophia’s comment earned a sharp elbow to her ribs as Talia swung open the door and made quick introductions. Brian at least had the good sense to stand up, and Tommy offered a much smoother bow than Talia had pulled off.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Ladyship,” he said. “Could I get you a cup of tea? We’ve not got anything too posh, mind you.”

“Not at all, please, have a seat, and tell me if that’s a hint of Glaswegian I hear in your accent.”

“Aye, well done.”

“My family has an estate in Lanarkshire,” Victoria said to the rest of the group as if that offered them any sort of meaningful explanation. “They’re actually there for the summer, which leads me right into the main purpose of my visit. My family vacates this house during the summer months to allow tourist operations to run more smoothly. The income our summer guests bring is a major economic force, not for my own family, but for the area surrounding the castle and village. Any interruption to that schedule could have dire consequences for our local economy, so if we are to move forward with the filming schedule, there will need to be considerable concessions made.”

Talia’s eyes grew big. “For clarification, you’re not here for the breakup talk, you’re here for the ‘let’s work this out’ talk?”

Victoria smiled brightly. “What a nice way to put it. Yes, and I do have faith that with a little compromise on both our parts, we’ll find a middle path that does, in fact, work.”

Half the room exhaled in a collective whoosh of relief, only it wasn’t Sophia’s half. Neither she nor Brian seemed to have been holding their breath in the first place. She felt a little twinge of annoyance to have even mentally aligned herself with that asshole, but she still didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Of course, she wanted to make the film. She’d worked and prepped and compromised some of the standards around who she’d willingly accept direction from, all because she wanted to play the role so badly, which was all the more reason not to like the words concessions and compromise coming from some noblewoman who’d likely never worked a day in her life. She couldn’t resist the opportunity to say so.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but if it’s going to be such an ordeal for you, are we sure this is the right place for us? Aren’t there a thousand other castles in England and Scotland?”

“There are a great many,” Vic admitted.