One Hot Summer: A heartwarming summer read from the author of One Day in December. Kat French

his head in goodbye as he descended the ladder. At the bottom of the tree he paused, considered an apology, and then thought better of it and shoved his hands deep in his pockets as he made his way back to the manor without glancing back.

      Alice stood on the deck of the tree house and watched him saunter away across the grass, her heart still banging too fast in her chest. She’d had her fill of the paps and reporters during her break-up, and her father had had scant regard for the invasive methods they used. Over her dead body would she have them back here again. In some ways Robinson Duff was nothing like Brad, but in other unsettling ways he was obviously cut from the same fame-hungry cloth. If she didn’t need the six months rent he’d paid in advance so badly she’d ask him to pack his precious celebrity bags and leave her in peace.