A Summer Of Secrets
A perfect, feel-good summer read about love, life and family.One long hot summer. Secrets never stay buried for long…Portia is determined to restore Buttersley Manor, her family’s crumbling ancestral home, to its former glory. Yet she has a feeling that there are a few forgotten skeletons in the dust-covered cupboards.Jenny has put her life on hold for far too long. It’s time to finally start living and to dig up those hopes and dreams she’s kept hidden all these years – but is she brave enough?Rich is happily married with a beautiful wife and lovely daughter. In fact, his world is perfect until a very unexpected consequence of his past walks through the door…Joe would like nothing more than to travel back in time to when he and Gina were happy. But is it too late to rescue what they once had?One thing’s for sure, nothing’s ever quite what it seems when it comes to life in the country!Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Cathy Bramley and Claire Sandy.Praise for Alice Ross:‘Life in a small English town comes to life in Ross’s sweet and funny story.’ – NetGalley Reviewer‘A lovely, easy read.’ – NetGalley Reviewer‘A good, lighthearted read. I would recommend for an easy beach read.’ – NetGalley Reviewer‘What a great page turner from Alice Ross, it kept me hooked from the word go.’ – NetGalley Reviewer
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One long hot summer. Secrets never stay buried for longâ¦
Portia is determined to restore Buttersley Manor, her familyâs crumbling ancestral home, to its former glory. Yet she has a feeling that there are a few forgotten skeletons in the dust-covered cupboards.
Jenny has put her life on hold for far too long. Itâs time to finally start living and to dig up those hopes and dreams sheâs kept hidden all these years â but is she brave enough?
Rich is happily married with a beautiful wife and lovely daughter. In fact, his world is perfect until a very unexpected consequence of his past walks through the doorâ¦
Joe would like nothing more than to travel back in time to when he and Gina were happy. But is it too late to rescue what they once had?
One thingâs for sure, nothingâs ever quite what it seems when it comes to life in the country!
A perfect, feel-good summer read about love, life and family.
Countryside Dreams
An Autumn Affair
A Summer of Secrets
Forty Things To Do Before Youâre Forty
A Summer of Secrets
Alice Ross
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016
Copyright © Alice Ross 2016
Alice Ross asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 9781474047463
Version date: 2018-07-23
ALICE ROSS escaped her dreary job in the financial services industry a few years ago and has never looked back. Dragging her personal chef (aka her husband) along with her, she headed to Spain, where she began writing witty, sexy romps destined to amuse readers slightly more than the pension brochures of her previous life. Now back in her home town of Durham, when not writing, she can be found scratching out a tune on her violin, walking her dog in wellies two sizes too big (donât ask!) or standing on her head in a yoga pose. Alice loves to hear from readers, and you can follow her on Twitter at @AliceRoss22 or on facebook.com/alice.ross.108.
Thank you to my wonderful family for being just ⦠well ⦠wonderful.
And to my fab editor, Charlotte Mursell, for all her encouragement, support, expertise and â most importantly â patience.
It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with you and the Carina team.
To Cody
For being the best dog in the world.
And for never failing to make me smile.
Contents
âAnd that, Iâm afraid, is it.â
Across the wide, mahogany desk, Portia Pinkington-Smythe stared at Dillon Harwood, the balding, kindly faced man who, for the last five decades, had had the dubious pleasure of serving as the Pinkington-Smythesâ family solicitor. Yet, despite this well-forged connection, and an impressive IQ of one hundred and thirty, Portia still failed to compute the information he had just imparted.
âYou mean ⦠my father died leaving a pitiful sum in the bank and a whole heap of debt?â she eventually asked.
Dillon nodded. âIâm so sorry, Portia. I had no idea things were this bad. I wish your father had told me. If Iâd known sooner, perhaps I could have helped somehow.â
Portia gave a weak smile of gratitude. Her fatherâs recent death had been traumatic enough, but to now discover the shabby state of the family finances had proved another devastating blow.
âBut at least you have Buttersley Manor,â Dillon continued, squeezing a large dollop of optimism into his tone. âAnd there are endless possibilities there.â
Portia grimaced. âThere are. But I doubt any of them would be viable in the buildingâs current state. It was bad enough before Dad went into the nursing home eighteen months ago and I havenât seen it since.â
âPerhaps you could take out a loan for the work.â
She shook her head. âI doubt Iâd be a good risk. Itâll take thousands to put the house right, and Iâd need a guaranteed income to pay it back. And now that I donât have a job â¦â
