CHAPTER ONE

      PORTIA CLOSED THE door behind her and breathed out as the car puttered off into the distance. Finally, peace perfect peace.

      Somewhere, on the other side of the house, she could hear the chirrup of birds. After three days of being constantly surrounded by people and chatter it was music to her ears.

      She leaned back against the cool wall, tempted to just slide down it.

      Her sister Miranda’s wedding was over. She could stop smiling. She could stop fending off the intrusive questions from her sisters. Miranda had looked radiant, lost in the pink cloud of love and drifting off somewhere that seemed a million miles out of Portia’s reach.

      She was the oldest sister—wasn’t she supposed to get married first?

      The tightness that had gripped her chest since she’d got here eased just a little.

      The last wedding guest had left. Miranda was off on her honeymoon, Posy had gone back to work, and Immi had returned to her job in the family business. Finally, Portia could have some quiet.

      It wasn’t that she didn’t love her sisters. Of course she did. It was just that being around them was so...busy. They all talked at once, and over the top of each other. And what she really needed right now was a chance to take stock, to weigh up what to do next.

      Her discarded mobile phone lay on one of the gilded tables in the large entrance hall almost mocking her.

      L’Isola dei Fiori had patchy mobile coverage. Villa Rosa had an old phone line that didn’t currently work, and no Internet.

      She didn’t need emails. She didn’t need a phone signal.

      The last conversation on the phone had turned her work life upside down.

      ‘What have you brought us in the last four weeks, Portia? The award ceremony was weeks ago. Your red carpet interviews are yesterday’s news. You’re supposed to be an investigative reporter. This is Hollywood. And at twenty-seven your time is almost up. Bring me a headline story in the next four weeks or you’re history.’

      She’d felt numb. Studying investigative journalism at university had been a dream come true. Finding a job in Fleet Street had been much harder. When she’d decided to hitch around the US with a friend for a few weeks she’d no idea how her life would turn out. One random conversation in a small café in Los Angeles had led to a temporary job at a TV station as a runner. When one of the producers had found out what she’d studied he’d asked her to pull some material together for their entertainment gossip show. Portia was smart and Portia was beautiful. Two months later she’d still been there and when the TV host had been involved in an auto accident on the way to the studio, she’d filled in with less than an hour’s notice. The audience had loved her. Social media had exploded.