Lexie Read online

  Lexie scanned the paper, but the headline on the front page only confused her more…something about a billboard along the interstate causing controversy. She turned the paper so she could read it better. They hadn’t done any billboard advertising for over a year, and the longest their ads remained on display was usually sixty days. To her knowledge, all of Underhill’s ads had been papered over long ago. She looked at the grainy, black-and-white photograph. It didn’t even come close to their branding. It was—

  Her.

  She blinked and looked again.

  It was her.

  She snatched up the paper. The billboard advertised The Ruckus, a biker bar on the other side of the river. She’d heard of it but had never been there. She didn’t tend to frequent the bar scene, and this one had a reputation that kept her away.

  Yet there she was in all her glory.

  In the shot, she was looking sultrily at the drivers passing by along the highway. Kohl eyeliner made her eyes smoky, and her hair hung like a dark waterfall over her shoulders. Her lips were parted, red and glossy. As seductive as the expression was, though, it clearly wasn’t what was generating all the hoopla. It was what she—or the model—was wearing. The bustier didn’t cover much, but it certainly…boosted. Her breasts nearly spilled out over the top right onto the roadway.

  Only they weren’t her breasts. Lexie shook her head. The billboard couldn’t look this much like her in real life.

  “This isn’t me.” Although every time she looked at the shot, she thought it was. No wonder everyone else did too. “It’s not,” she insisted. “Or…maybe it is, but somebody Photoshopped it. But…it can’t be. I’ve never posed like this.”

  She wouldn’t even know how. The woman on the page was the embodiment of sex. Mystery and intrigue. Definitely the forbidden. If she tried to act like that, people would turn away laughing.

  Nobody was laughing now.

  “Alexandra Marie, don’t you dare lie to me.”

  “Father, I’m not.”

  Tara planted her hands on her hips. “She’s been locked in her office the last few weeks, working on something. None of us knows what it is.”

  “So this is our new marketing campaign?” Landers asked incredulously. “You’re farming yourself out as a T&A model?”

  Lexie’s breath caught, so offended she didn’t know how to respond.

  “Watch it.” The snarl in Cameron Rowe’s voice made everyone pull back.

  Lexie forced her shoulders not to hunch, but she shrank a little inside. As much as she tried to fit in, she always felt like the oddity, but she’d never had her entire family against her. For God’s sake, the hatchet man was the only one siding with her.

  She trailed her fingers over the newspaper until the ink stained her fingertips. How could she explain this? How had this happened? Why? Her touch stilled against the newsprint.

  Maybe the real question was who?

  Her gaze slid upwards.

  Which one of them had done did this?

  Her lungs pumped hard as she stared at the Underhills one by one. The restructuring activity had stirred things up over the past months. Ruthless Rowe had come down hard on all of them, analyzing their processes and productivity. Her marketing department had taken its hits, but it had fared better than others. Was this some sort of childish payback?

  Her father stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows. Lexie concentrated on him rather than how far up they were. His blond hair seemed nearly white against the redness in his face.

  “What were you thinking?” he asked. “Plastering your painted face and exposed body along the most highly traveled freeway in the city? Do you know how many accounts we’re going to lose because of this? We make educational children’s games, for God’s sake.”

  Lexie pushed the newspaper away from her. “I didn’t do this.”

  “And your mother…” Julian raked a hand through that thick shock of hair, and his shoulders slumped. “Anne Marie is sick about this. You know I don’t like her upset. I had to tell her what kind of place that dive is…what kind of things happen there…”

  Lexie threw another look at her siblings, but not one of them stepped up to defend her. Not one of them came forward to admit it was a prank…their fault… Blaire was crying now, but the rest were watching the whole thing unfold with some kind of bizarre fascination.

  What was going on?

  Her father finally turned to face her. “I want this mess cleaned up, Alexandra, and I want it cleaned up now.”

  “So do I.” There were pranks, and then there was cruelty. This went way past the line. “I’ll get to the bottom of it, I promise.”

  “Good. Get on it.”

  What, right now? “But—”

  His blue gaze swung up to meet hers, and it was as hard as a sapphire. “This company can’t afford that kind of bad exposure. Not now. This needs to be handled.”

  Bad exposure from her face…

  Lexie tried to let the backhand slide. For some inane reason, her proposal was still of prime importance to her. It could help. “I’ll find out what happened, I swear, but I have an idea that I think will gain us some new business. If we could just get back to the quarterly meeting and show everyone we’re still strong together—”

  “I don’t want the kind of business your kind of marketing is going to bring.” Her father’s voice lifted again, and Lexie realized his pale hands were shaking. He pushed away the paper on the desk as if it repulsed him. The family name was everything to him. His legacy.

  And someone had smeared it using her.

  Rowe stepped between them. “This isn’t productive, Julian.”

  Her father stared at his right-hand man for a long, long moment. The old guard facing off against the new. “She’s up there for the whole world to see, Cam.”

  Rowe picked up the newspaper, studied it and finally shook his head. “She said she didn’t do it, and look at the damn thing. It’s not even her.”

  Yes, Lexie thought. Just look at it. Couldn’t Julian see that wasn’t her? Didn’t he know her better than that?

  Her hopes fell when her father’s chest puffed out and his jaw stiffened. He hadn’t gotten where he was by being soft. He might trust Rowe’s recommendations regarding the company, but he wouldn’t put up with a direct challenge of authority.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Julian said in a clipped voice. “Whether she did it or not, it’s her face up there—and we have to give our report to our investors in two weeks. You know that pornographic billboard will be all anyone wants to talk about.”

  It didn’t matter…

  This time the verbal backhand was harder to ignore. Lexie flinched as if she’d been struck.

  “I’ll go,” she said, her throat constricted. Without thinking, she caught Rowe’s arm. This wasn’t worth him fighting over. At her touch, his biceps clenched. For some reason, the reaction made her lungs, heart and stomach squeeze together, trying to crowd into the same aching spot inside her chest. “I’ll fix it.”

  She went to gather up her things but was surprised to find them still in the crook of her arm. Spinning away from everyone, she nearly ran right into Cam. She pulled up short but kept her gaze at tie level. With as much dignity as she could muster, she circled around him and headed towards the door.

  “Julian,” Rowe growled.

  If there was a response, Lexie didn’t hear it. She closed the door behind her but found herself right back in the mix of things. People stood in the hallway like statues, frozen when she caught them watching her. This time, there was no cover under which she could hide. She wove her way in and out of them, wishing she had a clear path to her office.

  No wonder everyone had stared at her before. How many of them had seen the paper? How many of them had driven by that train-wreck billboard?

  Which was not pornographic.

  It was beautiful, in a stark, sexual way.

  As horrified as she was, she kept her head high and her footsteps even. It t
ook forever for her to get to the privacy of her office, but when she did, she closed the door behind her.

  Air. It was the topmost thing on her mind. Leaning back against the door, she sucked oxygen into her lungs. It hurt.

  Everything hurt.

  Away from all the hot looks and disapproving frowns, her composure threatened to crumble. She’d spent her life trying so hard to gain her father’s approval. And for what? He hadn’t even been willing to listen to her. It didn’t matter if it was her on that billboard or not. She bet it would have mattered if it was Tara or Blaire. The lawyers would already be on it.

  Besides, Tara would have loved to have her pouty puss up there.

  Sounds from the offices crept through the door, making Lexie grimace. People were still talking. Everyone had witnessed her humiliation. Even the computers and printers were hissing and clacking away about it. Only it wasn’t her! Why wouldn’t anyone believe her?

  She jumped when a knock sounded just opposite of her head.

  “Lexie?”

  Oh God. The voice drifted practically into her ear. Cameron Rowe. Damn it all to high heaven. She fumbled for the lock, but the handle was turning. The door started to swing open but instead thumped against her.

  It was the kick in the drawers she needed. Self-conscious, she wiped her hand across her cheeks but found them dry. Behind her, the door opened more carefully.

  She was already halfway across the room to her desk. Grabbing her catchall bag, she pushed her armful of proposals into it.

  Rowe stepped into the room, his dark eyes intense. “Are you okay?”

  The words to get him to leave died on her lips. Okay? No, she wasn’t okay.

  “Not really.” It was no use lying.

  A muscle twitched in his jaw, and he closed the door behind him. Trapping her. Trapping them.

  Lexie pulled her purse out of the drawer. Opening it, she began searching for her keys. He was in her space again, and she didn’t like it any better than she had last night. He liked to close in whenever she was vulnerable.

  Just like the wolf he was.

  He crossed the room, watching her so hard she felt the heat. He didn’t stop until he was straight across the desk from her. “That never should have been handled that way.”

  Yet it had been. Somehow she wasn’t surprised.

  He braced his hands flat on the oak surface. “Which one of them did it?”

  Her head snapped up. Had she been that transparent?

  “You know what I’m talking about. You suspect one of them. Which. One?”

  Tara or Landers. The answer popped into her head, but she refused to let it cross her lips. Lowery had just looked green—although he was the computer geek and had the skills to pull off something of this caliber.

  “Damn it, Lexie. Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Accuse them?” she said with a disbelieving laugh. “In front of my father?” Yeah, that would have gone over well. She returned her attention to her purse. “You heard him, it doesn’t matter if it’s me or not.”

  “That’s bullshit. Of course, it matters.”

  She pinned Rowe with a look, upset and angry enough to challenge him back. “I would think this would make things simple for you. Wasn’t it last night that you were warning me I was about to be let go?”

  “That has nothing to do with this,” he practically snarled. “Besides, nothing is ever simple with you.”

  No, things between them were definitely getting more complicated by the minute.

  “Well, just so you know, it wasn’t me,” she said. “I wasn’t lying in there.”

  “I know.”

  “Really?” For some reason, she couldn’t let it go. “Then why did you ask me to explain the connection to Underhill?”

  His head dipped for a long second then he rolled his neck until he stared out the window. The city was bustling outside, unaware of all the drama going on twelve floors up. “I was told it was you. I didn’t check close enough to make sure.”

  “Couldn’t get past the cleavage?” The words were out before she could stop them, and they surprised even her. Why was she poking him with a stick? Worse yet, sex?

  His attention slowly swung back. “Honey, if I was looking at your cleavage, we’d both know it.”

  They watched each other, his brown gaze sizzling, until she couldn’t stand it any longer. Heat flushed her cheeks and she dropped her chin to her chest. She began pawing through her purse. What was wrong with her? She was usually much more affable, submissive even. She’d spent weeks avoiding this man in the hallways.

  Yet now he was a hot button she couldn’t stop pushing.

  Rowe raked a hand through his hair then backed away. Settling against the arm of the chair in front of her desk, he watched her fumble for her keys. “When I took a second glance, it was plain as day. The woman on that billboard is not you.”

  There was no question in his voice at all. He really did believe her. But why? “How can you be sure?” she asked before she could stop herself.

  “There were differences.”

  “I couldn’t see any.”

  “I could.” He remained slouched against the chair, his arms folded over his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles, yet there was nothing casual about him. The tension she’d sensed radiating from him in the conference room hadn’t abated.

  Lexie couldn’t contain her curiosity. “What differences?”

  She regretted the question almost immediately. There was a lot to live up to in that picture. She didn’t have to close her eyes to remember the blatant come-on the model had presented. Maybe he thought the woman’s cleavage was nicer or her skin was creamier or her mouth…

  “The eyes.”

  She stilled.

  His gaze slid over her face, and she felt it as well as if it had been a touch.

  “They had an edge to them that yours could never have.”

  For a moment, Lexie forgot to breathe. She simply stared at the hard man sitting across from her. Felt his heat radiating towards her… Sensed his anger and frustration and…something else…

  “Yes, well…” She cleared her throat. “Thank you for standing up for me.”

  “Somebody had to. You certainly weren’t fighting back very hard.”

  He just didn’t understand how things worked.

  Her keys finally found their way into her palm. She snatched them up and pulled her purse up onto her shoulder. “Julian’s just upset. He’ll apologize once he calms down.”

  “Is that the way it normally works?”

  She went quiet again as the hurt and betrayal flooded back in. Pushing away from the desk, she snatched up the rest of her things. She headed for the door, but Rowe moved too. Her office hadn’t grown in the last few hours. In the small space, it was impossible to avoid one another. He made sure of it. He stopped her at the door, bracing one hand flat against it.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then I’ll go with you.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “We need to figure out how this happened.”

  Her jaw set. “We?”

  “I can help you. I have resources you don’t.”

  “I have my face. I’m pretty sure that’s all I’ll need.”

  She didn’t mention her cleavage again, but she didn’t have to. His gaze dropped. Even fully dressed in a button-down suit, Lexie felt her breasts warm.

  “I told Julian I’d fix this, and I will.” Finding chutzpah she didn’t know she had, she shouldered Rowe out of the way. His hard heat pressed against her side, making her breasts start to ache, and his warm breaths brushed against her hair.

  “Damn it, Lexie.” He stepped back, even though he wore a scowl on his face. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone.”

  “I’ve always been alone, Cam.”

  Opening the door, she walked out. Underhill staff still mingled about, but if they watched her, she didn’t noti
ce. Cam’s name tingled on the tip of her tongue as she walked towards the elevator bay. Her legs were unsteady, and her body was sensitive from where they’d touched. She felt him watching every step she took, but no footsteps came after her.

  She was grateful for the reprieve.

  She had too many things on her mind right now, too many problems with which she had to deal. Her father had given her the boot. Her family was looking down their noses at her, while thousands of strangers were looking up with awe, disgust or even lust. Yet things between her and Cameron Rowe had just changed.

  And that might be more than she could handle.

  Bad to worse was right.

  Chapter Three

  Lexie got in her car and started driving. As much as she wanted to floor the accelerator, she couldn’t let herself. The last thing she needed right now was to run over someone. Besides, this was something she could control. She could tell her car how fast to go, when to turn and where to stop. She wouldn’t let it go topsy-turvy or upside down.

  Like her morning had just gone.

  Her fingers began to cramp around the steering wheel. Flexing them, she looked both ways before exiting the parking ramp. She felt like she’d been sandblasted, numb to her surroundings yet overly raw at the same time. The sun was too bright as it came through the windshield, yet the air blowing from the vents didn’t seem to touch her skin.

  A red light told her to brake. Why not? She was in no hurry. Like she’d told Rowe, she didn’t know where she was going or what she was going to do. Yet when her car pointed towards the freeway, she knew that had been a bald-faced lie.

  She had to see it.

  She had to see that billboard for herself, live and uncensored. Up close, it couldn’t look that much like her. The newspaper print had given an optical illusion. She was not displayed larger than life looking like that.

  Fortunately, morning rush hour was over and downtown traffic was light. She took the nearest on-ramp to the freeway. Cobalt City was a town of halves. Developed around the Cobalt River, the waterway served as both a physical and socioeconomic divide. The east side held the official downtown area, as well as the arts district and, farther out, the upper-class suburbs. The west side was the home of the blue-collar. The city’s main river port was accessible from the west bank, and industrial companies filled the pocket where the river twisted back upon itself. Truth was, the best pizza and blues bands could be found on the west side too.