Camera Girl blushed, and Margo nearly stumbled. She knew the woman had heard his whispered words. She wasn’t sure how. Maybe they’d been secretly wired while they slept on the flight.
Or maybe she has a keen sense of hearing because she’s one of them.
She couldn’t start down that road. She didn’t believe in things that went bump in the night. Never had. All her monsters had been very real and very human. She just had to play along until she convinced them to sign on the dotted line. That was the only reason she’d come.
It had nothing to do with Thomas Lyons. Nothing at all.
“Smell the Scottish air. This place is so full of history, I can’t wait to start exploring.”
“It is, sugar. Do you have the infrared camera? The EMF detector?”
“We have everything, honey. We already went down the checklist, remember?”
Margo bit her lip to stop from chuckling. Kasey Lynn and Bryan were going to be entertainment unto themselves. Maybe they could do a spin-off. Newlywed Ghost Hunters: The Mad and the Beautiful.
She looked around. The sky was amazing. And the air—it was sweet. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Chilly, but nice. After living beneath the dome of California smog for so long, she’d forgotten what fresh air smelled like.
They were guided onto the tour bus, a giant rock star mobile with all the amenities. Where did their funding come from? To say Darcy would be disappointed if this was a studio promotion of a film already underway was an extreme understatement. They had gone to greater lengths in the past, but surely something this big couldn’t have been kept under wraps for a whole year. There was no marketing team that leak proof.
She sat down at a table with Joseph, Stan and a lovely Asian woman named Julie Wu. Julie was Keepsake_Hrt, one of Margo’s partner’s in crime online. She was happy to finally meet her in person, and Julie seemed relieved to have someone she knew along for the ride as well.
The woman with the camera and the bionic ears stood at the front of the bus with her male counterpart. She was truly lovely. Exotic dark brown eyes, lush lips, sharp cheekbones and the body of a lingerie model. Margo wondered if she and Thomas were together. That thought was singularly depressing. “Welcome to Scotland. I’m Chi, and this is Liam. We’ll be your camera crew for the next week, and this old guy behind us at the wheel—Dugan—he’ll be in charge of your transportation needs.”
The bus started moving, and Margo looked down at her breakfast. On any other day it would have been welcome. Pancakes and sausage, Eggs Benedict and a fresh bowl of fruit. Today it made her stomach knot in rejection. And now she remembered why she’d stopped drinking the hard stuff.
“Where are they? Thomas, Mac and Saint?”
Chi smiled at the question that came from Karen Stevens, a petite, seemingly shy woman who’d admitted on the flight that she had gotten a tattoo of the three stars on her chest for the occasion. That was fan dedication.
“Thomas and Saint are in transit. They wanted to give you an opportunity to get settled in before you meet. Mac, as you know, is not exactly fond of sunlight.” Chi winked at the group’s titters. “Tonight, at dinner, you will meet everyone for the first time. Anyone else have any questions?”
“Will everything be recorded? What if one of us wanted to have sex with our hosts? Would that be put online for everyone to see?”
Joseph met Margo’s gaze and made a face. Naomi Blaze. Of course it would be her that asked that question. She sounded like she wanted to be filmed. It didn’t surprise Margo. Naomi had made no secret of the reason she was here. She had her own porn website, and it was a fantastic opportunity for self-promotion. If she could show some skin, well, the more the better. It wouldn’t bother her if Naomi weren’t so smug, so vain or so very…obvious.
Chi grimaced, but answered politely. “Most of your time here will be filmed, as specified in your contract. Some, like what we’ve captured this morning, will be prerecorded, but predominantly the show will be live.” She glanced at the rest of them. “Bathrooms are off limits, so you’ll be able to shower, get dressed etcetera, without having your privacy completely invaded. Luckily, there’s been substantial renovation done to the castle in the last five years. Each of your rooms in the castle have en suites, so you won’t have to share.” She turned back to Naomi. “I suppose the answer to your question, Ms. Blaze, is yes, if you are determined to have sex in front of the camera, we or one of the cameras set up around the castle will no doubt catch the show.”
The awkward silence grew until the giant Liam suddenly shifted his hips, drawing everyone’s gaze. But his attention was focused on Julie Wu. “Do you have a question?”
Margo smiled into her coffee as Julie blushed, looking flustered. “No. But, um, thank you.”
The air crackled between them. Margo knew Julie had suffered through a difficult break-up about six months ago, finally gathering the courage to leave her abusive, good for nothing boyfriend—and since then she’d had no interest i
n dating. But this…this looked promising. She’d have to find out more about Liam the cameraman. Make sure he was good enough for Julie.
“I can see the wheels turning in your pretty head. Are we matchmaking?”
Margo smiled at Stan. “Maybe.”
“Oh goody. As long as you don’t turn that spotlight on me. Dugan the driver is not my type.”
“Dude, could you relax please? They’ve landed. They’re on the bus. It’s all good.”
Thomas glared at the lounging Saint who hadn’t looked up from his Blackberry since breakfast. The demon really needed a lesson or two in the fine art of socializing.
He couldn’t fault him. Saint was the only thing keeping him from clawing at the walls. His little device was connecting him to the cameras; first the plane’s, now Chi’s. He was also adding new code to his online game, keeping up with the commentary on the Shifting Reality site, and playing Solitaire. Talk about multi-tasking.
“How close are they?” He was dying to meet her. Saint had shown him the images, pointing her out. Kittysnapdragon. Margo. She was all he’d imagined and more. Saint had been right about her ass. He’d never seen one he’d been so tempted to touch. To bite. But an image told him nothing. He needed her here.