Free Say It With Sequins: The Rumba: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance Novella by Georgia Hill Page B

clutch onto her, obviously he couldn’t believe what was being said either.
    After this, Charlie had to attempt to calm things down.
    Eventually the audience quietened and Sonya spoke. “I’d like to echo what Kevin has just said. Whatever has got into you Julia,” at this she leered slightly, “can I ask you to bottle it and give some to every woman here, including me? You’ve transformed yourself from a no-hoper dullard to a dancer!” The audience began clapping again. “Well done to you and to Jan, but darling, I’m going to have to vote for Suni.”
    Half the crowd cheered and half booed. Julia reached for Suni’s hand and squeezed it. The tension was so tangible she could smell it.
    “Arthur, as senior judge, you have the casting vote,” yelled Charlie over the hullabaloo. “What a gripping semi-final this has been, a real nail-biter. Arthur, can I ask you for your decision?”
    Arthur twinkled at Julia. “You know, love,” he said in his earthy northern voice, “Kevin here got it right when he said you were a comic turn. You gave us all a laugh in those first weeks but now I’ve got a great big smile on my face for another reason. Judging on that last dance alone I’m putting you through to the final and -”
    His words were lost in the uproar that detonated around them.
    But it’s wrong, thought Julia. It’s wrong, Suni should have gone through. She turned to the woman and enveloped her in a hug only to be ripped away by a towering Jan. He picked her up and balanced her on his shoulder in a parody of the lift they’d done in their American smooth.
    “Put me down Jan,” she yelled but wasn’t heard. “Oh, put me down you great big oaf!”
    From her vantage point, Julia could see Scott stomping off, bitter that he’d lost his chance of winning the competition. Suni stood, obviously stunned, and alone until Harri and Eva came back onto the dance floor with Carol in tow. Harri put his arms round Suni and when Carol did the same he released her and came to where Jan was still holding Julia aloft.
    “Are you planning on letting her down from there any minute soon?” he said to the giant Russian, “only I’d quite like to congratulate my girlfriend and rival, see.”
    Jan grunted and Julia slithered down his muscled body until she stood breathless and pink faced in front of Harri.
    Oh God,
rivals
she thought, as the meaning of his words struck her. That could put a dampener on things. But she should have known Harri better; he simply grinned, folded her into his arms and whispered his congratulations into her ear.
    Step Thirteen.
    “You can’t be serious!” Julia cried in dismay. She was at her first fitting for the dress she was going to wear in the Christmas Special. The one she would wear to dance the rumba with Harri.
    Roxie, the most senior of the costume girls, paused and looked up from her position at the hem of Julia’s short skirt.
    “Why not? It’s gorgeous,” she said, through a mouthful of pins.
    It
was
gorgeous. Julia was dressed up as a sexy Santa’s elf. A very sexy elf, indeed. The tiny crimson top, the colour of which set off her hair to perfection was decorated with a sequined fur collar. She loved the colour – and the sequined strips hanging off the skirt; it was the bodice that was worrying her; it barely covered her breasts and was cut off somewhere above her ribs. The jaunty emerald green elf’s hat didn’t console her.
    “Look,” she said to Roxie, picking at it, “you can see more of me than the dress. I can’t go on telly and expose all my flabby bits.”
    Roxie stood up and put her hands on her hips. It wasn’t the first time she’d had an argument with a celebrity over a dance costume and it wouldn’t be the last. The men were the worst; she could never get them to accept it was all about the bling, the razzmatazz and not about them looking manly.
    She sniffed disdainfully and looked Julia up and down. She saw to her satisfaction that the girl was