Frosted by Allison Brennan, Laura Griffin Page B

guests, looking for any familiar faces that might throw a wrench in their new scheme. Ever since R.J.’s unexpected appearance, Scarlet was paranoid. But she was pretty sure they had everything covered. Dave had agreed to take Trina into town for dinner to get her out of the way—and he hadn’t even made Scarlet explain why. Scarlet had been beyond pissed this afternoon when their plan had fallen apart when R.J. had gone all macho-alpha-jealous-male and driven three hours to see Krista, so maybe Dave had read her body language and decided not to mess with her. Smart man.
    “There’s Adam,” Krista whispered. “But I still don’t see Chad.”
    Scarlet turned on her stool to see Adam stepping into the bar, once again wearing his leather bomber jacket.
    “Hey.” He came up and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. “You guys started without me, huh?”
    “Sorry,” Krista said brightly. “Couldn’t wait.”
    Adam shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on a coat rack near the bar, then signaled the bartender. “I’ll have a bourbon, straight up.”
    Krista shot him a look.
    “Or... make that a Heineken. In the bottle’s fine.”
    He took a seat next to Krista, and Scarlet watched with amusement as he draped a hand over her shoulders. He seemed much more at ease now than he had earlier when Plan A fell apart.
    “How’s it going, Kay?”
    “Fine.”
    “Looks like a fun wedding,” he said. “Anyone seen Tiffany?”
    “She was with some of the bridesmaids a minute ago,” Scarlet said. “Maybe she’s on the deck?”
    Adam’s beer arrived and he smiled at the bartender. “Put it on my room, will you? I’ll get the round.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Krista pulled out her phone and checked a text then gave Scarlet a slight nod.
    “Oh, hey, there she is, Adam.” Scarlet nodded toward the far side of the room. “Over by the buffet table. See her?”
    Adam sipped his beer. “I’m going to go say hi.”
    And with that, he left.
    Krista and Scarlet made chit-chat for another few minutes and finished their drinks before going back up to the suite. No sooner had they stepped off the elevator than Krista got a text.
    “He took the bait,” Krista said excitedly.
    “Perfect. Where’s Adam?”
    “He said he’s going to stay down for a while, give Blake plenty of time.”
    Scarlet unzipped the stylish black boots she’d been wearing in the bar and shoved her feet into snow boots. Krista ran into the bedroom.
    “Come on, let’s go.”
    “I’m coming.” Krista hurried out and tossed Scarlet her ski jacket.
    They rushed down the back stairwell and slipped out a side door. The sidewalk around the lodge was blanketed with a fresh layer of snow, and Scarlet glanced up at the sky with a scowl.
    “It’s still coming down.”
    “Nothing we can do about it,” Krista said, hurrying around the lodge to the parking garage and staff housing.
    R.J. was waiting for them at the back door. They slipped inside and immediately followed him into a dim stairwell. It was a secondary staircase, not the main one, but he corralled them into a corner where they wouldn’t be seen by someone coming down.
    “Is he here?” Krista whispered.
    “Got here two minutes ago.” R.J. took out Scarlet’s phone and pulled up her surveillance app. The black-and-white camera footage showed a bird’s eye view of Blake’s room. Or rather, the room that was supposed to be Chad’s. Blake tossed Adam’s jacket on the bed and walked to the closet. R.J. handed Scarlet the phone as they all leaned closer.
    “What’s he doing?” Scarlet asked, frowning at the image. “Is he taking a shower ?” Blake was stripping off his shirt and tie. He tossed the clothes on the bed, then grabbed a T-shirt from a duffle bag and pulled it over his head.
    “He’s getting ready to go somewhere,” R.J. said.
    “But has he even checked the jacket yet?” Krista looked at him.
    “No. He must be really confident Adam doesn’t know about the diamonds.”
    They