If The Ring Fits.... Kate Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ THURSDAY, they were halfway through training when the door opened.

      ‘You have visitors,’ Amanda announced.

      Danny, Mike and Charlie rushed over to Polly and hugged her in turn.

      ‘We’ve missed you, Pol,’ Danny said, giving her another hug. He looked at Liam. ‘Sorry for bursting in on your training session, but this woman’s impossible to pin down.’

      ‘We get all these lovely chirpy texts from her,’ Charlie said, ‘and we have no idea if she’s faking it or not, because you can’t really tell from a text, and she never answers her phone.’

      ‘Because I’ve been busy,’ Polly protested. ‘And I’m fine.’

      ‘We needed to see that for ourselves, Pol,’ Mike said.

      ‘I’m fine. Really. You all obviously know Liam.’ She introduced the crew swiftly. ‘Liam, this is Danny—now, if you were dancing with him, you’d win, because he’s great—this is Mike, and this is Charlie.’

      She was different with them, Liam thought. Relaxed. And she was clearly fond of all of them, because she seemed happy to be hugged and have her hair ruffled by them all. Hadn’t she said that they were like the brothers she didn’t have? Liam couldn’t remember the last time he’d been that close to someone. Since the accident, he hadn’t let anyone close—even family. And maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, keeping himself separate and pushing people away. Being close to people made Polly sparkle.

      ‘Sounds like a challenge,’ Liam said. ‘Show me what you’ve got, Danny?’

      ‘Can I put some music on?’ Danny asked.

      Liam gestured to his stereo system. ‘Help yourself.’

      A few seconds later, a chart hit started pounding through the studio, and Danny gave them a demo of a street dance.

      ‘Not bad,’ Liam said when Danny had finished.

      ‘A challenge, you said. Can you do that?’ Danny put the track on again, and Liam mimicked what he’d seen.

      ‘Not bad,’ Danny said.

      ‘I think we should record this for the Step by Step show,’ Polly said. ‘Are you up for it, Danny-boy?’

      ‘It should be you doing the dancing, not me.’

      ‘We can mix it up a bit,’ she said with a smile. She glanced at her watch. ‘The cameras are going to be here in half an hour or so. If you don’t have to be elsewhere, I could make us some coffee.’

      ‘Polly, put the kettle on?’ Charlie teased. ‘Great. I’ll give you a hand.’

      Polly made coffee for all of them, including Amanda, who was thrilled to meet the rest of the Monday Mash-up crew. Especially when Danny promised signed photos for her children.

      ‘We brought you this.’ Danny handed her a bag of fan mail. ‘I know we could’ve sent it to Shona, but we wanted an excuse to see you.’ He looked at Liam. ‘We weren’t coming to check you out.’

      ‘No?’ Liam asked, knowing full well they were and raising an eyebrow.

      Danny gave him a rueful smile. ‘OK. A bit. Fliss—Polly’s bestest friend—can’t, because she’s a teacher and she can’t get the time off during the day.’

      ‘Did she put you up to this?’ Polly asked.

      ‘Not answering that one, Pol.’ Danny ruffled her hair and turned back to Liam. ‘We saw the way you stuck up for her on the show, so we know you’re good to her.’

      Mike ruffled her hair. ‘I like the hair, Shrimp. It suits you.’

      ‘We really miss you on the set. It isn’t the same without you,’ Charlie added.

      Polly grimaced. ‘I couldn’t stay, in the circumstances.’

      ‘I know. We’re all so angry with Harry. He’s such an idiot,’ Danny said.

      ‘Don’t give him a hard time. He couldn’t help falling in love with her.’ Polly couldn’t quite bring herself to say Grace’s name.

      ‘I can’t believe you’re taking this so calmly,’ Charlie said. ‘Well, he’s not putting her in your place.’

      Polly flinched. ‘Is that what he’s suggesting?’

      ‘We said we’d leave if he even thought about it,’ Mike said. ‘At the moment we have a series of guest presenters. People have auditioned for your job, but none of them’s been like you.’

      ‘Give them a chance,’ Polly said. ‘You need time to build the chemistry.’

      Chemistry, Liam thought. He had a nasty feeling that was happening with him and Polly. And it rattled him. She was making him think differently. Making him feel again.

      ‘We want you back, Pol,’ Danny said, looking serious.

      She shook her head. ‘Not going to happen.’

      ‘New job?’ Charlie asked.

      ‘Not even the sniff of an audition, right now,’ she admitted. ‘But I can’t work on Monday Mash-up again.’

      The boys stayed there for long enough to do some dancing for the cameras on Step by Step, and to tell all the viewers to vote for Polly.

      ‘We’d better let you get on,’ Danny said when the camera crew had gone, and the three of them gave her a hug and kiss goodbye.

      ‘They’re nice lads. I can see why you miss them,’ Liam said. ‘But come on, you, back to work.’

      She knew he’d seen the glimmer of tears in her eyes and guessed exactly why they were there. But there was also an additional guilty layer: the fact that she was missing the crew, but she wasn’t missing Harry. And shouldn’t she be missing the man she’d been going to marry?

      On Friday, Polly was enjoying their last real practice of the routine. She loved the music. She’d always thought of herself as the girl-next-door type; but the way she was dancing with Liam made her feel sexy. More attractive than she’d felt in years. She lost herself in the dance, to the point where she ended up overbalancing on a spin. Liam caught her before she fell and pulled her against his body to steady her. ‘OK?’

      ‘OK,’ she whispered.

      Except she was aware of every drop of blood thudding through her veins, the way Liam was just that little bit too close, to the point where she could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. She could feel the moment that his breathing changed, became faster and shallower, and glanced up at him to see that he was staring at her mouth. A moment later, she was staring at his. Thinking. Wondering.

      They were a whisper away from kissing. Just as they’d been at the club.

      She felt hot all over. Maybe it was the music or the dancing, she tried СКАЧАТЬ