“I’m Sarah.” She held out her hand, and Ellie took it. “I’m a big fan.”
A fan? How could this woman know who she was? Ellie wasn’t in publicity photos for any project she’d ever done, and it was too soon before Myth Hunter’s release.
At Ellie’s confused look, the woman said, “I subscribe to your YouTube channel with social media tips and tricks. I love your videos. They’re informative and fun.”
“Oh.” Ellie slid her hand from the woman’s and held it to her chest. “Honestly, no one has ever recognized me in public before.”
Sarah laughed. “Well, you’re just as beautiful in person as in your videos.” She turned to Tucker and held out her hand. “You must be Ellie’s husband. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. McLeod.”
Ellie flushed and started to explain that Tucker wasn’t her husband or a McLeod. But Tucker winked at her and smiled at the woman. “A pleasure, Sarah.”
“I’d better get back to my friends.” The woman faced Ellie and gushed one last time. “You’re just amazing. I had to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Ellie smiled back at the woman, who gave a little wave and slipped into a group just getting up from their table.
She found herself giggling as she looked at Tucker. “Mr. McLeod?” She held her hand to her belly. “Oh, my. And you handled it so well.”
Tucker’s amused expression turned into a grin. “That’s not the worst I’ve been called.” He picked up his wine glass. “Tell me about this YouTube channel.”
Ellie sipped from the first wine glass and lowered it. “When I started my business, I set up the channel to attract customers. It took time to build, but I now have around 105,000 subscribers.”
“That sounds impressive.” Tucker looked intrigued. “To be honest, I don’t know what it means to have that many subscribers.”
Ellie explained how it worked. Some social media influencers had a massive number of followers compared to those simply considered popular. “I’m popular with people interested in promoting themselves or their business with social media, but by no means am I a big name.”
He studied her. “Is it safe to use your own name?”
“I never thought of using a pseudonym or screen name.” She shrugged. “Everything I’ve done has been with my real identity. Leeann, my cousin, is becoming a famous author. She used her maiden name—she wasn’t married at the time. She’s kept that rather than publishing the books using Gann. So, Leeann McLeod is now her author name.”
“She’s married to Porter Gann.” Tucker glanced at her. “Porter shoes my horses. Last time he was out to my ranch, he mentioned you did some work for him a while ago.”
Ellie nodded. “He’s a good man.”
“Sure is.” Tucker smiled. “He’s usually not much of a talker, but he lights up when he talks about his wife and kid sister.”
An idea popped into Ellie’s head. “I bet you’ve never been to a con. A convention for gamers, creative artistry, cosplay, and other stuff.”
“Never heard of such a thing.” Tucker raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what cosplay is for starters.”
“Where do I begin?” Ellie thought about it. “Cosplay is short for costume play. It’s where fans dress up as fictional characters from a game, anime, or maybe a character from a popular movie franchise like Star Wars or Star Trek.”
He shook his head. “Can’t imagine.”
“I’ve got a proposition for you.” She folded her arms on the table and leaned forward. “If you come with me to the Universal Game Expo next weekend, you can find out for yourself.”
* * *
Tucker studied Ellie. She could proposition him for just about anything. He wanted to tell her he’d go anywhere she wanted him to. “If it means dressing up like Chewbacca, I’m not inclined.”
She giggled. “I can imagine that just as much as picturing you dressing up for the Renaissance fair—which means not at all.”
He liked the sound of her giggle. It was cute. “I’d like to hear more. Are you going in costume?”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “The VP of the game company that designed Myth Hunters asked me if I’d go on Saturday and sign autographs as the voice behind Nyx Cox, the heroine. I don’t expect anyone to want my autograph, but he thinks there will be. We’ll see.”
He watched her. “You’re not dressing up as Nyx?”
She looked a little surprised at the thought. “That would be a bit much—I hope he doesn’t expect me to. He’ll be sadly mistaken.”
