It was packed.Extra chairs had been brought in, and people were still milling around and grabbing seats.She used the cover to slip to the side of the room.The carpeting silenced her heels as she moved towards the conference table, but it didn’t take long before people noticed her.Conversations turned hushed and whispered.A few people pointed, and more than one raised an eyebrow.Lexie’s skin tightened.She was expected to set an example, she knew.
Glancing through her eyelashes, she searched for an open seat at the head of the table.She wasn’t surprised when the only one available was next to Cameron Rowe.
She inhaled deeply.She’d let him slip under her defenses last night, but she refused to let him see how much it had affected her.Today, right now, she was ready for him.
As if sensing her, he turned his head.His gaze collided with hers, but she met it.When she saw what it held, though, she almost stumbled.
He was angry.
No, strike that.He was livid.
She stopped in her tracks.He stood behind his chair with his hands clenched around the seatback.The leather stretched, dangerously close to ripping, but it was the look on his face… His jaw was clenched and his dark eyes burned.Anger rolled off him in waves.
“Well, look who’s finally decided to grace us with her presence.”
Lexie glanced across the table.The words hadn’t come from the outsider.They’d come from her brother, Landers, the Director of Sales.
“Good morning,” she said, refusing to let him get under her skin too.
“What’s good about it?”Lowery mumbled.Her other brother’s chin was pointed at his toes.With the way his hands were stuffed into his pockets, everything about him was directed downward.He looked as if he would have melted through the floor if he’d had the choice.
Lexie’s eyes narrowed as she evaluated her siblings more closely.They were congregated on the opposite side of the table, a virtual wall of unhappy blondes.Landers glowered while Lowery stood shaking his head with… Was thatpity?Tara’s blue eyes spit contempt, but even her hair was ruffled and out of place.Worst of all, though, Blaire was ready to cry.
An uneasy feeling prickled between Lexie’s shoulder blades.She’d walked into the middle of something.
But what?
She turned back towards Rowe.He might be breathing flames, but his anger wasn’t directed towards her.No, his energy circled around her, almost as if it was encompassing her.Her family, though… She could feel the tension radiating from the other side of the table.
What would pit them against each other like this?
Her jaw slowly unhinged.Thebastard.He’d told them about his plans to get rid of her.
“You promised you’d wait,” she hissed.
His gaze jerked to her face.
“You told them,” she accused.
Landers took an aggressive step forward.“You knew about this, Rowe?”
Cam’s look pinned the younger man in place.“No, I did not.”He stood up straight, pushing himself away from the chair.The leather sagged in relief and didn’t immediately spring back into shape.“Enough.We need to take this out of here.”
“We’ll deal with it right here, right now,” Landers snapped.
Rowe tilted his head towards the gathered audience and lifted his eyebrows.One glance towards the rest of the room reminded everyone that the employees were watching the interplay with rapt attention.“So you don’t care if everyone knows there’s infighting amongst the family?”
“Outside.”With only one word, the Underhills snapped to attention—all of them.Their father had spoken.
Lexie spotted Julian seated at the head of the table.She didn’t know how she’d missed him before.Usually larger than life, her father was quiet and almost stiff in the way he held himself.She knew that tone of voice, though, and he was not amused.
“Now,” he growled.
He pushed his seat back and headed towards the door at the side of the room.Everyone followed.She automatically fell into line too, but Cam stepped in front of her, separating her from the pack.The move made her stomach sink.It sided her with him—or him with her.
Infighting amongst the family,he’d said.It wasn’t difficult to see who was the odd one out.
“Why are they so upset with me?”she whispered at his back.“Did you tell them I offered up their employees for the layoffs?”
