Sophia shook her head and turned to Vic, trying to convey her most unamused facial expression. “She did that on purpose.”

“Then I’ll offer my profound thanks at the first opportunity, but in the meantime, you and I still have a serious job to do. I promised you a tour of the stables, and I think if I’ve proven myself to be anything thus far, it’s thorough.”

Sophia rolled her eyes in an attempt to hide the shiver that little comment sent down her spine. She didn’t know what do with the new, more brazenly confident Vic any more than she’d known what to do with sexually aggressive Vic the night before. Well, at least last night she had some very compelling reasons to simply lie back and enjoy what she’d unleashed, but it wasn’t like her to let herself be led around in broad daylight, and on her own movie set, no less.

Now was probably time to assert herself. There was no legitimate reason why a lead actress needed a location tour of some stables. They paid people for that sort of thing. It was time to find one of them and put her foot down on this whole charade.

“I hope you’ll find these stables authentic to your cause,” Vic said.

Sophia opened her mouth to tell her no, but before she even formed the word, Vic lowered her voice and added, “They’re also quite private.”

The involuntary tightening of her chest expelled a little rush of air from her lungs.

Vic took the non-answer as acceptance, and with a sideways tilt of her head, motioned for Sophia to follow her.

And she did. Which annoyed her. It hadn’t even been a proper request, just a mere motion, a silent indication of her will, and Sophia trailed along like some well-trained puppy. This was no longer merely getting out of hand. It was fully there.

“As you can see, despite the age of the building, there’s great potential for natural light, both from the large doors at either end and the access points to the haylofts. Additionally, these stable stalls were outfitted for draft horses originally, so they’re much larger than the ones at the castle.”

“Vic,” she managed.

“Oh wait, I haven’t shown you the best part.” She swung open a wooden door and flipped on a light illuminating a small room stacked neatly with what Sophia could only assume was a wide array of horse equipment.

She stared from all the horse stuff back to Vic’s smiling face, wondering if their vast class difference had reasserted itself. She had no idea what she was supposed to feel . . .  Surprised? Impressed? Pleased? And she was too exhausted to try to figure it out. “Those are very nice horse accessories, I’m sure, but I think we need to set some—”