Page 39 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
“There’s an account on X called starzwatch – they’ve a huge following. Someone is leaking stuff to them. Like, basically anything that goes on inside and outside of Linford, no matter what it is, seems to end up in that account. Even imaginary stuff. The ‘Linford Curse’. The haunted tunnels.”
Robert grinned. “Isn’t all news good news? Come on, tell me about the tunnels.”
Jess gathered her thoughts. “Well, there’s three – and only two that are safe to use. But they need to film Afric in one of them. The problem is, Afric is claustrophobic, so Mel Winters asked me to take her into one for a couple of minutes, so she wouldn’t freak out when it comes to shooting the scene.”
“Oh?” Robert looked interested. “Which one did you use?”
Jess rolled her eyes. “The Lady Linford one. I had to go in with her, and I’m pretty claustrophobic too.”
“Shit! So why did you agree?”
“I didn’t really feel I had a choice.” She shrugged. “It’s kind of part of my job description at the moment.”
He frowned. “How did it go?”
“Not well. Afric managed to bump her forehead on the way out because she panicked and stood up too soon.” Maybe claustrophobia was a sliding scale. She’d managed to stay inside the tunnel longer than Afric had! Although that hadn’t been difficult. “I found a camera lens cover on the ground.”
He looked surprised. “In the tunnel?”
“Yeah, it hadn’t been there that long, either. It was pretty clean.”
“It probably belongs to one of the camera crew,” Robert said, pouring them more wine. “If they’re using the tunnels, they might have been in there to check it out.”
“Probably.”
“Hm.” Robert looked at her thoughtfully. “Okay, enough about work! Let’s talk about you. Do you always order the same thing in a restaurant?”
“Nope. Do you?”
“Life’s too short.”
Jess smiled. “What else do you want to know?”
“What was your favourite movie when you were a kid? The one you watched over and over again?”
“So easy –High School Musical!You?”
“Harry Potter, and all the Narnia movies.”
“Good to get this out in the open,” she said.
“Yeah, I think being a big fan ofMean Girlsmight be a deal-breaker.”
He held her eyes for a long moment and she allowed herself a brief fantasy about whatever was happening between them going further. He seemed to want that. Did she? She studied his face, the curve of his jaw, the way the overhead lights picked out – hang on – were those coppery highlights in his hair? She’d definitely never noticed those before
“You’re kind of staring.” His lips quirked.
“Sorry.” She blushed. “You know you’ve sort of highlights in your hair. Are they …?”
“What?”
They were interrupted by the waiter with their food and Jess flicked a glance at Robert. He looked a bit annoyed. Shit, either itwasdyed and he didn’t want to admit to it or it wasn’t andhe’d thought it was a rude question. She searched quickly for a change of subject.
“I’ve read some of Deb Considine’s books, includingAn Irish Inheritance, you know.”Gripping conversation, Jess.“What about you, do you prefer the book or movie first?”
Robert smiled. “Book, normally. But withAn Irish Inheritance, I don’t think it matters.”
“Why not?”
