Say It With Sequins: The Rumba: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

after the latest session with Jan.
    “Another?” Harri asked and, at her nod, summoned the waitress. “A house red and I’ll have a Becks please,” he said when the girl came over.
    “Are you, are you Harri Morgan?” The girl, a younger waitress than the one who had served their meal, gasped and pushed back her felt reindeer antlers. “Oh my God, oh my God! I can’t believe it. Is it really you?”
    “I was the last time I looked,” Harri said cheerfully.
    “Could I … would you mind, could I have your autograph? I love
Red Pepper
. Oh I know I’m too old for it,” she chattered on as Harri took note of her tinselled name badge and signed a paper napkin for her, “but my younger sister got me into it and now I
always
watch it when I’m on lates.” She giggled and blushed bright red.
    Julia smiled to herself, and thought the attraction of the programme probably wasn’t just how to learn to use sticky backed plastic.
    “There you go then,” Harri handed over the serviette. “Would you like me to do one for your sister too?”
    “Oh, would you? Thank you!”
    Harri reached for another napkin. “What’s her name?”
    “Debs,” the waitress squealed. “Wait ‘til I tell her who’s been in!” She turned to Julia: “Course, we get loads of celebs in here, it being so near the TV studios and everything but Harri’s the only one whose autograph I’ve wanted.” She did a double take and looked at Julia more closely. “Oh hell, you’re, you’re -”
    “Julia Cooper,” Julia supplied.
    The waitress looked from one to the other. “You’re both doing
Who Dares Dances
aren’t you?”
    “That’s right.” Harri, his voice even and controlled, handed over the other serviette. “And that would be a Becks and a glass of house red please, Abi.”
    The waitress took another long look at both of them and Julia wondered what was going through her mind. Then she took the hint, nodded and went off to get their drinks.
    Julia giggled slightly. This sort of fame was new to her. Apart from a few hardy souls who waited at the stage door for her, she could get through ordinary life unencumbered by such encounters. She was intrigued by how Harri had handled it. “Does that happen often to you?”
    Harri raised his dark eyebrows and grimaced. “Not too much when I’m not expecting it, like tonight. It’s different if you’re visiting somewhere, a school or a lifeboat station. Then you get yourself geared up for it.”
    “Do you mind?”
    He frowned. “No, comes with the territory, doesn’t it? It doesn’t get to me unless they get a bit over the top. One night a girl sat down at the table with us. Wouldn’t have minded but it was a family meal out for my mam’s birthday, see.” He winced. “Not the most tactful thing to do.”
    Julia laughed in sympathy and agreed. She lapsed into silence as Abi returned and, with infinite care, served their drinks and left. Then she asked him “So what’s in this for you?
Who Dares Dances,
I mean.”
    Harri glanced at her over the rim of his bottle, took a long gulp, considered her question and finally answered. “What do children’s TV presenters do when they’re too old to jump out of helicopters and make pencil pots out of loo rolls?”
    Julia giggled again. “I don’t know.”
    “God, they end up presenting naff ghost hunting shows or sail around the Med on their yacht or disappear onto a digital radio station.”
    “And none of that is for you?”
    Harri shook his head. “No,” he said. “I know what I don’t want but I’m thirty two next year, I’m getting a bit past it for kids’ TV. So what do I do next?”
    Julia shrugged.
    “Exactly. What I’m hoping for is that I’ll get some kind of offer come in, something to broaden my career, something exciting. And,” at this he grinned again, “at least I’ll have the satisfaction of learning a brand new skill and raising some money at the same time.”
    “Ah yes, the money, somehow we all