Caught in the Frame (Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) by ReGina Welling (novel24 .TXT) 📕

A pause. “Hellooo.” Whoever was on the other side of the door had the voice of a whining child; her tone pierced the air like the screech of metal on metal.

“Shh.” Whispering, Lila said, “Be quiet and maybe she’ll go away.”

“Who is it?” When one person whispers, everyone does. Chloe nudged Lila aside to squint through the peephole. It could have been the distortion from the fish eye lens, but the woman on the other side of the door reminded Chloe of the Cabbage Patch Doll she’d bugged her mother for when she was little. Blond hair framed a round, dimpled face with a button nose. Chloe had to stand on tiptoes and angle her gaze downward in order to see the tiny woman.

“Hush up, she’ll hear you. That’s Hannah Frank, former wedding coordinator to the stars.”

“Former?” EV also whispered.

“Lot of rumors. Some kind of scandal put her out of commission. Now she’s trying to work her way back in. She heard I was getting married and followed me here.”

Chloe watched Hannah frown, then reluctantly walk away. “She’s gone. And now that you mention it, I received an alert from one of my social media monitoring tools that your name was tweeted—the post came from HF Events, and mentioned your engagement. I figured it was legit; that maybe you had hired a wedding planner, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

“What does she want?” EV asked.

“To help with the wedding. Gratis, of course, because she just happened to be staying at the castle. Coincidence? I doubt it.” Why was she still whispering? “I think she’s trying to use me to get back in good graces with her former clientele.” Lila added in her normal tone of voice. “I told her we’re planning a small, understated wedding and I don’t need her help. Apparently, I wasn’t speaking her language.”

“I see.” EV grinned. “A small, understated wedding. In a castle, with 500 butterflies, and how many of your closest friends?”

“Hey, I’m only going to do this once.” Lila answered EV’s grin with one of her own. “But I don’t want that twin-set-wearing airhead involved.”

“So, just tell her that.” Chloe suggested.

“You make it sound so easy. I’ll tell you what,” Lila retorted, “You try it when she comes around again. See how far you get. She’s more relentless than a bulldog. I already had to warn the staff not to take orders from her after I found out she’d been telling everyone she was in charge. I caught Antoine just before he sent back the four racks of bridesmaids dresses I ordered in from various sources. He had no idea she wasn’t legit. I think that’s why his nose is so brown right now; he’s feeling guilty.”

“The nerve.”

“I think she’s gone. We’re going to be late for our lunch with the photographer.” Lila hoped Hannah wasn’t lurking around the next corner. While EV and Chloe exchanged amused sidelong glances, Lila sidled along the wall and peeked around just to make sure.

“Clear.”

When Lila glanced back, it was to see EV and Chloe doing their best Charlie’s Angels imitation. Lila looked away to hide her grin, and maybe, even if she would never admit it, her jealousy that the two of them were so close. A visit to Ponderosa Pines might not be the worst thing. After saying she would consider one to attend EV’s wedding to Dalton when she thought such a thing impossible, Lila now hoped it would come to pass.

Chapter 8

Baylee Delarosa and her assistant Ross Adams were already seated at one of the larger tables in the cafe’s atrium when Lila breezed in with her entourage—if Chloe and EV could be called that. After kissing Baylee on both cheeks and offering an apology for her tardiness, Lila made the introductions.

Running an appraising eye over the attractive woman who stood waiting to shake her hand, Chloe judged Baylee to be in her early forties. A swing of smooth auburn hair framed an oval face scattered across the middle with freckles. A ready smile bracketed by the kind of fine creases that came from long years of practice contradicted the shallower frown lines etching their way into her forehead. The soft twang in her speech pattern gave away a childhood spent in Georgia before moving to Europe after college.

“Baylee is married to Javier’s brother, Tomas.” Lila explained when everyone was seated once more. “We’re going to be sisters-in-law.”

“Congratulations.” The shadow that flickered through Baylee’s eyes was gone so quickly Chloe later decided she had imagined it.

Leaning sideways in her seat, Baylee looked toward the entrance. “Isn’t Javier coming?”

Lila sighed, “No. He’s somewhere in the bowels of the castle talking shop with the security techs about the updates and resets or whatever it is he has to do while we are here.”

“That’s our Javi, always on the job.”

“Even when he’s on vacation.” Lila smiled indulgently. “I’m sure he’ll have it sorted out in no time.”

Ross, a strapping young lad of no more than twenty, couldn’t manage to keep his dark eyes focused on the conversation, given the way a pair of similarly-aged young women not-so-subtly flirting with him from their table at the other end of the room. “Now that you’ve met Lila and her family, I think it’s okay if you go take some personal time.” He lingered only long enough to toss a nice meeting you in their general direction before sauntering over to chat up his admirers.

“Oh, to be young and hormonal.” EV mocked with good humor.

“I’m fine with being old and hormonal.” Lila waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Can we please change the subject. I’m getting mental images, and there’s no such thing as brain bleach.” Chloe complained.

For the next few minutes, while Chloe fidgeted and EV’s eyes glazed over, Lila chatted with Baylee about things that had more to do with her soon-to-be family than with the real purpose for this luncheon. When she could take no more, Chloe cleared her throat, “Have you had a lot