Page 5 of All Summer Long

Okay, so maybe she’d switched the pinafore dress for ripped jeans and a sweater that slid off one shoulder, but her hair was bang on the money. Golden ripples that fell past her elbows, and nervous, startlingly blue eyes that looked into his as her lips curved into a slow, uncertain smile.

‘Mr Duff? I’m Alice McBride.’

She stuck her hand out and Robinson dropped his bags onto the wide stone step so he could take it. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure the three bears weren’t anywhere in sight behind her, he slid his hand into hers.

She glanced over his too, and then managed to frown and keep that fixed little smile in place all at the same time.

She had a surprisingly strong handshake for a girl who appeared so delicate on first glance.

‘Come in, come in,’ she said, letting go of his fingers at last and stepping aside to allow him entry into the hall. More fairytale stuff. The hallway was big enough to count as a room in its own right, and the fire crackling in the hearth took the chill from the air. His hostess glanced around outside in the empty driveway for a moment and then banged the front door shut and turned to him.

‘Will the rest of your family be joining you later?’

‘My family?’ he frowned, nonplussed.

Alice faltered.

‘I’m sorry, I just assumed, given the size of the house and all …’ she trailed off, and a rose-petal warmth tinted her cheeks that had nothing to do with the warmth from the fireplace.

‘Maybe later. It’s just me for now.’

Robinson didn’t elaborate, and found himself irritated by her automatic assumption. The last thing he planned on doing was sharing his domestic arrangements with strangers. He’d come here to get away from prying eyes and nosy neighbours, not hurl himself headlong into the middle of village gossip.

Alice recovered herself well, switching that polite smile of hers straight back on.

‘Shall I show you around, or would you like a cup of tea? You must be exhausted after all the travelling.’

How very English. Welcoming as she was clearly trying to be, what Robinson really needed her to do was to leave him alone to get his head together.

‘Actually, you’re right. I am exhausted. Maybe we could take a rain check on the grand tour until tomorrow? I’m sure I can find somewhere to lay my head.’

He noticed how Alice blinked two or three times as she deciphered the request to leave hidden behind his polite words.

‘Right. Right, yes, of course.’

She spoke haltingly, that smile still there but no longer touching her eyes. She seemed momentarily stuck, wiping her palms on her jeans as if she wasn’t sure which way to go. He looked down at her bare feet and hoped she wasn’t planning to tackle the gravel driveway without shoes.

‘Okay, so I’ll leave you to it then,’ she said eventually, and then, oddly, she added, ‘it’s just this way,’ and turned and disappeared through one of the wide doorways that led off the hall.

Curious, he followed her and found himself heading into the kitchen.

‘This is the kitchen,’ she said, redundantly. He watched as she trailed her fingers over the central island as she passed it, almost an affectionate stroke. ‘The oven can be a bit temperamental, I can show you how to coax it, if you like.’

‘I’m not much of a chef,’ he murmured. An understatement. He’d barely cooked more than bacon and eggs in his life.

‘Right.’

She reached the backdoor, and then turned with her hand on the latch.

‘I’ll be off then,’ she said, her eyes moving from him to sweep slowly around the room.

Was it an English thing to leave by the back door? If it was he’d never heard of it. He watched as she stepped outside and pulled on a pair of bright red rain boots from beside a bench by the door, her curtain of hair swishing around her shoulders as she straightened. That resolved the shoe issue, at least.

‘Let me know if there’s anything you need.’

He nodded, and then realised he had no idea where she lived.

‘How do I find you?’

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