Page 64 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘I didn’t know which ones you wanted so I just went for it,’ said Amber.

‘She’s been working hard every evening on them,’ said Josh. ‘And ignoring me at the same time.’

Amber gave him a nudge and shushed him. ‘Belle appreciates the work and, besides, you were watching the football.’

‘I am so grateful,’ said Belle. ‘I’m sure we can pay you something for them.’

But Amber shook her head. ‘No need,’ she said. ‘If you can use them, then that’s great. If not, we might sell them in the shop!’

Belle laughed. ‘Not a chance. They’ll work perfectly.’

Josh looked around the place. ‘It’s okay, if a little stark for my tastes. I didn’t think my little brother could pull this together, but he might just have.’

‘With a bit of help from Belle,’ added Amber in a pointed tone.

Josh grinned. ‘A lot more help than just a bit, I would say. Here’s hoping it all goes well at the weekend.’ He suddenly frowned. ‘You might have to change the music though.’

Belle had hardly been taking any notice of the radio that she had on in the corner until that point. Then she realised that some irritating pop song was currently playing.

‘I’ll switch it off,’ she said, heading over.

But just as she reached the radio, the song changed and on came Beyoncé’s ‘Crazy In Love’.

‘Oooh!’ said Amber from behind her. ‘Did you see that girl fromEastEndersonStrictly Come Dancingthis weekend? She did a salsa to this.’

‘I think you’ll find it was the samba,’ said Josh.

To which Amber and Belle both turned around laughing.

‘I didn’t know you were studying it that carefully,’ said Amber, giggling.

Josh shrugged his shoulders. ‘With all those female dancers in their little dresses?’ he said, with a grin.

‘Oh really?’ said Amber, putting her hands on her hips.

‘I only have eyes for you,’ said Josh, taking Amber into his arms and beginning to sway. ‘I think we could show them a few moves.’

Belle found herself smiling as the couple swayed back and forth, attempting a few steps. They were so in love and it was wonderful to see, she thought.

‘Maybe we can do this for our first dance at the wedding,’ said Josh, before he tripped over his own feet and nearly catapulted them into a nearby table.

‘I’m not sure about that,’ said Amber, who was still laughing as Josh took her back into his arms to attempt another move.

‘What is this?’ asked Andre, suddenly appearing next to Belle in the doorway.

‘It’s called dancing,’ drawled Belle. ‘You should try it some time. You know, you might even break into a smile.’

‘That is not dancing,’ said Andre, with a sneer. ‘That is not how you samba.’

‘Oh, really?’ laughed Belle. ‘And how would you know?’

‘Because my mother made me take lessons when I was growing up,’ he told her, reaching out to take Belle’s hand. ‘I will show you.’

To Belle’s surprise, she suddenly found herself in Andre’s arms as he swayed his hips alarmingly in a provocative fashion. She couldn’t stop herself from bursting out in laughter at the shock.

‘You need to move your hips like this,’ said Andre, reaching out to hold her and moving her torso back and forth.

It took a couple of minutes, but eventually Belle found that she could make out a few steps and with a few sways here and there, she began to get the knack of the samba.