Kitty Spencer - Three-way weekend

Carlo looked at Meg. "No outside windows?"

Meg walked to the bed and pressed the first of a series of buttons on a small night table. There was a low humming sound as the ceiling rolled back and through the now glassed ceiling a few evening stars twinkled between scattered clouds. She pushed another button and a cool wave of fresh air invaded the room.

Before the Italian guide could catch his breath, she pushed yet another button and the giant bed began to slowly rotate; then another and television sets appeared from each of the three mirrored walls. He watched breathlessly as each of the sets came on, each showing the same identical scene – a room just like the one he was in. The only difference was that each room was a different color – blue, green, and violet.

Now she pushed another button and all three sets changed; blue changed to red, green to orange, and violet to yellow – and smack in the middle of the set showing the yellow room, stood Carlo, wearing an incredulous grin. Abruptly, the sound of rainfall reached his ears, then the sound of muted, sensual music. Suddenly, he realized the girl had touched more buttons. He walked to the bed just as she pushed the first seven buttons in reverse order and in moments the room was restored to its original state.

He was shaking his head as he followed Meg to the door and back to the elevator. Well, Marceau had certainly done his part, he thought, the rest would be up to him. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. It would be like a performer juggling a half-dozen eggs. If he dropped one they were all going to wind up scrambled.

Mentally he began to go over the plan in his mind, ticking off the details in sequence. He had staggered the times he had told everybody to be there. First arriving would be Benito and Hannah, followed shortly by Sue and Maria, the Count and his guest, the six young girls, and finally Nino and Elaine. He had asked Benito first because he needed help – he had to get Sue separated from Maria. While he kept the heiress with him, Hannah and Benito would take care of Maria. When the Count and his friend arrived he would have Benito introduce them to Maria. Then a taxicab driver friend would deliver the six girls, and he would have Benito take them up to the Count and Marceau. They were their worry after that – he had just promised to deliver them. Finally when Nino and Elaine arrived he would have Nino attend to the door. While he was introducing Elaine to everyone, Nino would slip away with Sue. From there on he was on his own. The elevator stopped with a slight bump. He stepped out just as Marceau entered the foyer from the direction of the ballroom.

"Ah! Carlo, everything is in order?" he asked.

"Great. As usual, you have exceeded yourself."

"Thank you," Marceau smiled. "And now, my boy, we should take up our stations. It will not be long before our guests begin to arrive. As arranged I will greet the guests who are destined for the ballroom and you will take care of the ones for upstairs. Ah, by the way," he said, grinning, "I have talked to Trembles about the little surprise you requested and the matter is arranged. Oh, yes, one more thing." He reached in his pocket and produced a plain white envelope. "Here, I think you will find this adequate," he said, smiling.

Carlo breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator rushed them to the top floor. Everything so far had gone according to plan. Moments before, he had left Nino and Sue stationed in the foyer, awaiting guests who would arrive, and now he was taking Elaine upstairs to introduce her to Marceau. She had swallowed the lie easily enough, expecting Nino to join them before long. He let his gaze travel over her lush young body and chuckled to himself, knowing that before she became suspicious he would have her under his influence – thanks to Marceau's special mixture.

Elaine caught the movement in Carlo's eyes as they traveled over her figure, pausing slightly at her ample breasts, flat stomach, and flared hips. She had remembered him immediately when they had met downstairs. He had been the one with Nino in the cafe… He was as good looking as Nino, she thought – the same finely boned features, the same muscular body. She was glad now that she had worn the green dress – knowing that it perfectly accentuated her ripe figure in just the right places.

Abruptly, the elevator bumped to a stop. As the doors hissed open Elaine heard the muted strains of rock music and felt his gentle touch on her arm as he led her toward it.

As they entered the room, Carlo noticed that the room had undergone a transformation since he had been up there. Now, the only illumination in the circular room came from psychedelic lighting above the sunken stage. He noticed that two of the young girls were dancing with the Count and his friend as he led Elaine toward Marceau's alcove table.

Elaine squinted as her eyes attempted to adjust to the room's darkness. She knew there were dancers on the stage, but in the flickering light it was difficult to distinguish their features.

Carlo stopped abruptly at a table from which copious giggling was issuing. "Elaine, I would like you to meet Marceau Verner, our gracious host. Marceau, this is Elaine Craig."

"Charmed, my dear," Marceau answered, disentangling his arm from the giggle and rising.

"Mr. Verner…" Elaine replied, nodding her head slightly toward him and smiling.

"Please… call me Marceau…" He hesitated, wondering. Could it be? But, no, it was too much of a coincidence… He looked beyond her to the figures on the stage. Still…? "If there is anything you wish," he finally said, breaking the short silence, "please feel free to ask. The show should be starting very soon now… I hope you will enjoy it."

"Thank you, very much," Elaine said, a puzzled look crossing her lovely face. She thought it strange that neither of the men had bothered to introduce her to the woman in the booth. Her eyes had become more accustomed to the dim light and she bent forward, straining to see into the back of the booth… God!

She was only a girl! Not more than 15 or 16. The girl with flaming red hair stared back, then grinned, and finally giggle Elaine was about to speak, but just then the lights dimmed even more and the music stopped.

"Come," Carlo said, pressing Elaine's hand. "The show is about to start. We'd better get to our table."

"See you later, Marceau," he called over his shoulder as they picked their way across the darkened room.

"A drink?" Carlo asked after they were seated.

"Thank you," Elaine answered. "I could use something!"

"How about some of Marceau's famous hot buttered rum?" he said, indicating the tureen resting in its warmer on the table.

"Yes, that would be fine," Elaine replied. Although the rain had stopped, it had been cool outside and she still felt a little chilled. Maybe the hot rum would warm her.

Carlo filled two glass cups from the tureen, handed her one, then raising the other, said, "To your health."

Elaine nodded in response, then sipped the warm liquid. What an unusual taste, she thought. But it's good. Very good! She sipped again.

They sat silently for several minutes, drinking, lost in their own thoughts. They lit cigarettes from the box on the table, then, Carlo noticing that her cup was almost empty, refilled it. His own cup was nearly untouched. He grinned. Not only was she drinking the hot rum – literally laced with hashish tea and Brazilian Bola an exotic aphrodisiac – but he had just fit a cigarette for her filled with just enough powdered hashish to keep her from coughing, yet strong enough so that just one had the potency of a whole joint of first-class marijuana.

Suddenly, from the direction of the stage, the pulsating beat of a single conga drum began. Gradually, a single orange spot of light began to illuminate one side of the stage. Elaine was mesmerized as the majestic figure of Marceau's Negro valet, Nick, gradually appeared in the soft illumination. He was seated, cross-legged, on the far side of the sunken stage, clasping the African conga drum he played between his bare legs, wearing only a lion-skin loin cloth, his naked arm and chest muscles glistening in the warm orange illumination. Elaine scarcely dared to breathe as she watched the light begin to pulse in rhythm to the enormous Negro's beat, flickering eerily off of his naked ebony skin with each throb.