Page 39 of Whisper of Surrender (Whisper Lake 2)

A woman swept into the room, making a grand entrance. “Darlings, you’re here. I am Miss Penelope. It is so lovely to meet you. Doris has told me so much about you.”

The first thing that Jess noticed about Miss Penelope was her hair. It was a stunning shade of natural grey with highlights of silver woven through. If every woman aged so gracefully, Jess would be out of a job. The woman was exactly what Jess had always pictured a dance instructor would look like in her all-black leotard, tights, jazz shoes, and sheer wrap around her waist.

After she’d gotten the brilliant idea to make Ethan dance with her in the Battle of the Badges, Jess had gone to the one person she knew that had experience in dance. Doris Weathersby. She’d been one of the original Rockettes, and at eighty-eight she still competed in ballroom dance competitions.

Mrs. Weathersby had wanted to be the one to train Jess and Ethan, but when Jess explained that she wanted to keep it a secret, she was so happy to be in on it that she recommended Jess call Miss Penelope who taught dance two towns over from Whisper Lake in Rosewood Grove.

“Hello, Miss Penelope, I’m Jess, and this is Ethan.”

“Miss Myers and Mr. Steele,” Miss Penelope took both Jess and Ethan’s hands in her own. “Are you ready to let your souls be free and express yourself through the healing practice of dance?”

“Yep.” Jess did her best to hold in a snicker as she glanced at the mirror and saw the look on Ethan’s face. He was going to hate every minute of this.

Jess elbowed Ethan.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Wonderful.” Miss Penelope’s hands flew in the air and then landed on her belly. “Let’s begin with our breathing.”

Miss Penelope led them through several warm-up exercises and stretches before instructing them to face one another and “connect.” Jess wasn’t exactly sure what that was supposed to mean, and Ethan seemed as lost as she was.

Staring at one another cluelessly apparently wasn’t what Miss Penelope had in mind.

“Connect!” she instructed harshly.

Jess flinched as the woman clapped her hands mere inches from her face. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see Ethan giving her a “what in the hell have you gotten me into” look, which would’ve been wholly justified. But that wasn’t how he was looking at her.

He stared at her with the same look she’d seen in the pictures from the party. The intensity had her pulse racing like it was trying to qualify for the Daytona 500.

“Good. Very good.” Miss Penelope praised them as she settled Ethan’s hand on Jess’s waist. “Now move together.”

And they did. Ethan may have been a beginner, but he was a natural. He moved them around the dance floor with confidence and command.

She shouldn’t have been surprised, that was what Ethan did. He took control, and despite herself, she was discovering that she loved it. She loved every second she was spending with Ethan.

And that, she feared, might just end up breaking the heart that she’d waited her whole life to get.

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