“Who cares if you posed for that billboard?You looked great.”Blaire pulled back and peered more closely at the woman she was hugging.Her gaze stuck when it hit the jeans.“Are youtryingto make Daddy mad?You know he hates jeans.”
“It depends.”Roxie hooked her thumb in her pocket and cocked her hip.She looked sleek and sexy in a black T-shirt, low-riding denim and impossibly high-heeled boots.
Sleek and sexy and totally out of place.
Lexie cleared her throat, but Blaire ignored her.Her sister was gawking at Roxie with a puzzled expression on her face.
Lexie tried again.“Um…Blaire?”
The young blonde glanced across the room distractedly.She waved but went back to Roxie.“What are you going to—?”Her breath caught on an audible croak.Her gaze dashed to Lexie again and then back to the woman at her side.“Lexie?”
“It’s Roxie, actually.”
Lexie hurried across the room.“Blaire, this is Roxie Cannon.Roxie, this is my sister, Blaire.”
Blaire’s mouth was as round as her eyes.“What’s going on?Who is this?”
“The woman from the billboard.”Lexie’s hands fluttered as she tried to find the right words.“We think we might be related.Twins, maybe.”
“Related?”Blaire’s head snapped back and forth as if she were at a tennis match.At last, she stopped on Roxie.She evaluated her from head to toe and a wide smile pulled at her lips.“A twin!Oh my God,Lexie!”
Instead of going for her, Blaire lunged at Roxie again.Roxie let out anoofwhen she was wrapped in a bear hug and squeezed tight.
Lexie smiled and felt tears press at her eyes.She wiped them away with her fingertips.They came right back when her little sister spun and hugged her too.Looking over her shoulder, Lexie saw Roxie give a thumbs-up.At least one of the Underhills was happy for them.
Finally, Lexie caught Blaire by the shoulders.She nodded towards the veranda.“What’s the mood out there?”
“On edge.Nobody knows what you want to talk about.”Blaire’s blue eyes widened all over again when she realized what they intended to do.“They’re not expectingthis.”
Lexie sighed.“I guess we shouldn’t make them wait any longer.”
Roxie cracked her knuckles and her expression turned serious.Together, they started down the hallway with Blaire hot on their heels.
Lexie lifted her chin and struggled to keep her nerves under control.That didn’t mean she didn’t see the astonishment on the staff’s faces.Work in the house came to a halt as she and Roxie strode past.Even the cook who should be handling brunch went up on tiptoes to watch the two of them together.
With every step they took, Lexie’s spine got stiffer.Roxie’s hips, on the other hand, became looser.
“Maybe it would be best if I went out there first,” Lexie said quietly.
Contrary to appearances, she really didn’t want to make a scene, and she wasn’t trying to pit one against another.She loved the Underhills, warts and all.No family was perfect, and she’d never known any other.Not that she could remember anyway.
Roxie flipped her hair over her shoulder.“Whatever.”
Lexie glanced at the woman standing beside her.She had no way of knowing if their relationship would turn out any better than the ones she had with her adopted brothers and sisters.Out of all of them, Blaire was the only one she was close to.With matching DNA, though, she hoped she and Roxie had a better chance of connecting.
A knot formed in her gut.
When it came right down to it, she just wanted to be loved.
Before her nerves failed her, she let herself out the back door.She braced herself as attention swung her way.The family was assembled in the casual seating area that had been set up for gatherings like this.Julian sat in the patio chair at the head of the table, while Anne Marie and the others took the chairs around the sides.
Unbidden, Lexie’s attention honed in on Cam.He was standing away from the group, but he never blended well into the background.Not for her.
Leaning against the white railing that surrounded the porch, he had his arms and ankles crossed.It was a casual pose that she knew wasn’t really casual at all.
She tore her gaze away from him, disconcerted.
“Sharon,” Julian snapped.“This coffee is cold.”
