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…itcan’tbe.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 youdarelie 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.”
