The camera was back in Sophia’s face. She barely noticed it anymore. They’d switched to a steady cam mounted on the operator’s chest. It was a better option for a multitude of reasons, but it also meant more people in her personal space. She didn’t care, though. Her personal space had never been all that personal, and the lens was a mere extension of the eyes she’d worked hard to have fixed on her. She did nothing to adapt her movements for any of them once she slipped into character. They’d work around her the same way the peripheral characters in the film would shift around her character.

Honestly though, that part of the character wasn’t particularly challenging. She barely acknowledged anyone else’s gaze most days. She might as well have been in the room alone if not for one particular set of eyes on her now.

She felt more than saw Vic reenter the room after they resumed shooting. She stood back near the doorway away from the crew, and even farther from her manservant, James, and yet she felt so much closer.

“Now stand over the book,” Brian said. His vague direction might have annoyed her earlier in her career, but now she understood what she needed to do. The ancient-looking ledger on the desk in front of her would appear at several points in the film, always telling her something she didn’t want to hear, either about finances, or a line of succession. She frowned as the thought reminded her of Victoria’s comments about not being rich or famous enough, even when all evidence pointed to the contrary.

“Yes. Perfect.” Brian startled her simply by still being there. “Now hold the same expression, but tilt your face up.”

When she followed his direction, she met Vic’s eyes. Her breath caught in the second before the other woman looked away. Those blue irises were swirling again, and they’d been focused intently on her. There was so much emotion there that didn’t make sense. Hunger, certainly, just like the men who’d tried to woo her in the past, but instead of drawing closer when given the chance, Vic pulled away.

Sophia possessed enough self-confidence not to question her own appeal. Besides, Vic’s body language told her the attraction hadn’t faded so much as it had been complicated by something she hadn’t fully given voice to yet. Sophia shouldn’t care what was going on under Vic’s professional exterior, but she did, and that sent up a red flag.