“Look at his long fingers. Like a painter’s,” Glikel said. She took Batya’s hand. “Let’s show him something.”

Glikel was trying to get the intriguing stranger’s attention by choosing the best tango partner among the girls, Batya knew. She’d give it to her, and then some. Tango relied on improvising, and she had become expert in teasing the moody, deeply sentimental melodies to life. Now, as she swiveled halfway back and forth in a series of ochos, the long fringes of the shawl tied around her hips revealed her legs in stockings held up by garters. Across the room, observing her, the new man tapped his foot to the music.

It took two songs for him to rise and walk over to her. Cutting Glikel out, he extended his hand to Batya.

From his first smooth square step she knew he was an expert dancer, a professional whose tall, lithe figure moved with ease and grace. His torso rigid with an open embrace that allowed space between their chests, he guided her with the certitude of a man in full control. Batya let herself surrender and follow as their bodies conversed in an emotional harmony. The stranger swept her around the dance floor, holding her back as she double-stepped and swerved over his extended leg. The feel of his thigh guided her to kick while avoiding his shins before he broke the turn to spin her in the opposite direction.

The song ended, and the man dipped her so low that both their bodies leaned dangerously close to the floor. His arm supported her shoulder blade while applause erupted.

Batya straightened and smiled into his face, but his expression remained solemn, his gaze piercing. For the first time since Efram’s exit from her life eight months earlier, Batya felt a sexual heat rising.

Before the clapping and whooping subsided, the musicians broke into a new song, and the stranger nodded an invitation to her. Just as she accepted, another man stepped forward. He wore sunglasses so dark that Batya couldn’t see his eyes, and his bald head was covered by a hard felt hat. He cut in, challenging the handsome stranger, who performed a minute of solo dance before cutting back into their embrace. As the three of them dominated the floor, the two men wooed Batya, fighting over her in a choreography in which she was the prize. At the end, she would choose the winner. For the duration of the dance, she was in charge.

She let the alluring stranger win. He paid Freda, then followed Batya toward the stairs. Upon reaching the staircase, still in full view of the pavilion, he cupped her buttocks. She glanced down, and he grinned, revealing straight white teeth.