Free The Woman Sent to Tame Him by Victoria Parker Page A

it stronger, brighter.
    ‘Did you have a tutu or a Snow White dress? My baby sister had all that crap.’
    She snorted. ‘I doubt Snow White wielded a wrench, and I don’t expect engine oil would wash out of a tutu very well.’
    His every thought slammed to a halt.
    Reared by men in a man’s world. No mother—he knew from Michael Scott that Serena’s mum had died giving birth to her. No sisters.
    ‘Have there been any women in your life?’
    She gave a blithe shrug but he didn’t miss the scowl that pinched her mouth. ‘Only my dad’s playthings.’
    ‘Ah. I get it.’ The narcissistic variety. Or maybe weak, fawning versions Serena would have recoiled from. So naturally she’d kept with the boys, until, ‘You feel uncomfortable around women.’
    ‘No!’ She kicked her chin up defensively.
    Finn cocked one brow and a long sigh poured from her lips.
    ‘I don’t know what to say to them, that’s all, okay? We have nothing in common.’
    ‘You’ve never had any girlfriends at all ?’ The notion was so bizarre he couldn’t wrap his head around it.
    ‘Not really, no. Tom and I had long-distance schooling, and it was pretty rare to see girls hanging around the circuit.’
    Finn kept his expression neutral, conscious that empathy wouldn’t sit well with her. Yet all he could think of was his sister, surrounded by girlfriends, and she’d had their mother through her formative years. He dreaded to think what Serena’s adolescence had been like. No shopping trips or coming-of-age chats, nor any of that female pampering stuff he’d used to roll his eyes at but which had made Eva fizz with excitement.
    He was astonished that Serena had managed without a woman in her life. Had she been allowed to be a girl at all? And why exactly did that make anger contort his guts? They were nothing to one another; only hate coloured her world when she looked at him.
    ‘So you have a sister?’ she asked quietly, almost longingly, and his chest cramped with guilt. It didn’t seem fair, somehow, that he still had Eva and Serena had no one.
    ‘Yes, I do. Eva.’
    Eva—who had suffered greatly from the demise of Libby St George. And what had he done? Turned his back on her, on both of them, and walked away to chase his dreams, his big break. Knowing what they’d go through because he’d seen it all before. He’d left Eva to cope, to watch their beautiful mother slowly fade away.
    Finn had let them down. Badly. And, what was worse, he hadn’t been the only one. His father, the great Nicky St George, eighties pop-star legend, had left to find solace in many a warm bed. Looking back, Finn still found it hard to believe he’d watched a good man—his childhood hero—break so irrevocably under the weight of heartache. And, while he felt bitterly angry towards his father to this day, he could hardly hate the man when he’d felt the same pain. When he’d let them down too.
    Yet still his baby sister loved him. She was all goodness while he was inherently selfish.
    Eva. His mind raced around its mental track. Eva would be perfect for Serena. A great introduction to the best kind of women...
    Finn stomped on the brakes of his runaway thoughts.
    It would be dangerous to take Serena to Eva. Eva might get the wrong idea. Serena might get the wrong idea. He might get the wrong idea. He was supposed to be getting rid of her, not fixing her and finding ways to keep her around! What was wrong with him?
    ‘Through here.’ He beckoned her towards another door. One he pushed wide and held as she warily followed him into one of the small lounges where the private games of the high-flyers were often held.
    ‘Why do I half expect the Monte Carlo Symphony Orchestra to strike up any second?’
    ‘It’s the grandeur of the place. It’s pretty spectacular.’ Oppressive at times, but spectacular nonetheless.
    ‘If you like that kind of thing,’ she muttered, with a slick manoeuvre that brought her back flush against another