Cinderella's Guardian Read Free Page A

month later when his savings started running low, he'd rung to go back to work but there were no jobs available. His old boss had heard about work going out on the rigs in the Middle East. It was great money, but the only position open had been a twelve-month contract. He wasn't due back for another eleven months. Which meant not only would he miss Christmas, but he'd also miss her twenty-first birthday.
    Even though she hadn't seen much of her dad in the last five years, the two months they'd spent together before he had to go back to work had been great. He'd been mostly busy renovating the house around her, but she'd sit and chat with him while he did his work. Life hadn't seemed so bad with her dad around, cracking jokes and calling her his sweet pea. She loved her dad, and he made sure he told her every day that he loved her.
    So unlike her mother.
    Tina couldn't for the life of her work out why her mother had left him. He was a hard worker, still good looking with his short brown-blond hair and trimmed beard, and he treated everyone in his life well. Her mother must truly be mad to have left him. Then again, the woman did abandon her only child in the midst of a crisis—and didn't that just say it all. Tina briefly wondered what her mother was doing with herself now, before she released a huff as she shook her head. She honestly didn't care what her mother was up too.
    Tina came back to the present as she lowered her head to look back at the computer screen in front of her. Within days of entering Robyn's care, she'd declared Tina needed something to fill her time. So Robyn had shown her how to do the salon's bookwork. Tina had always liked working with numbers. She'd excelled at mathematics the whole way through school, so doing the bookwork didn't bother her. The fact Robyn didn't pay her for it, now that bothered her a great deal.
    Rolling the mouse to wake the screen up, she stared at the home page of the accounting software with a sigh. She needed to head out to the front desk to grab yesterday's receipts. Robyn always forgot to bring them out for her, but got shitty with her if she caught Tina out front. Tugging on her fingerless gloves making sure the padded palms were where they needed to be, she began wheeling herself out to the front desk. She didn't pay any attention to what was going on around her. There was no need. Robyn and Barbara simply ignored her existence unless they wanted her to do something, and she didn't want to focus on the happy customers going about their day. She was on her way back to the office with the receipts, wheeling past the front door when it burst open and a man came barreling in, nearly plowing right into her chair. Her muscles tensed and her heart sped up in fear. Without raising her head, she quickly apologized and tried to wheel away before Robyn noticed.
    "What on earth do you think you are doing out here, Tina?" Robyn's high pitch voice grated over her nerves. With a long exhale, Tina looked up as Robyn approached. She knew better than to try and defend herself. Robyn would never listen.
    Tina turned her gaze from Robyn to see who had come in. Her breath froze in her chest. The man was gorgeous. He had to be at least six-foot-two, ink black hair that was long enough to look shaggy in a cool designer kind of way. His eyes, framed with dark lashes, were blue with grey specks and they were focused on her with a scorching intensity that left her feeling a little lightheaded. A twitch of his lips drew her attention to the most kissable mouth she'd ever laid eyes on. This hunk put to shame any other man she'd ever seen before, even the pretty-boy athletes she used to date in Sydney.
    "Tina, leave young Mr. White alone. You know better than to talk to customers. Now return out the back this instant and get on with those books like you should be doing. They won't do themselves, you know." Robyn grabbed Tina's chair and quickly wheeled her out of the man's sight, breaking the moment