“I was the one who personally gave him his pleasures at first,” Ruby continued. “But I don't make it a practice to stick with one man too long. It's bad for business. But tonight? I will lead him to a room where there is. a new girl. One that will set his heart to racing. One who will make his mind leave him. Arc you ready to be . .. this . .. girl… ?”
Maria flushed fully. The thought of Michael having been with so many different women made her heart ache. But she had to know that a man had needs . . . needs that possibly needed to be fulfilled each and every night. She had had such needs . .. but had had to leave them to lie dormant, tormenting her insides to shreds it seemed, since having last left Michael's bed on the ship. And now? To have the opportunity to be fulfilled . .. and at the same time to be with the man she loved … the man she would always love? She couldn't say no.
“What must I do?” she asked quietly, wishing the trembling would cease inside her.
“Just follow me,” Ruby said. “But first. The hat? Place it back on your head. You must look the part of a man for just a short time longer … a man I am taking to my room to entertain privately.”
Maria's heart lightened. She giggled as she placed her hair benea
th the confines of the hat once again. “I don't know about this,” she said. “Are you sure … ? How will Michael not realize who it is? Won't he see … ? Won't he recognize my voice?”
“You'll soon see, honey,” Ruby said, circling her arm through Maria's. “Now just act the part of a man. Walk into the house with me very casually, then walk beside me up the steps. My room is upstairs. Next to the gambling room. But keep your head lowered. Damn. One look at that face and those eyelashes and the fellas would think I was going to have fun myself with a female tonight. Don't want to get that reputation. Men are my cup of tea. Not women.”
Maria giggled once again, suddenly feeling lightheaded. She had never suspected for one minute that anything like this could happen. She had never thought Ruby could be so much fun … so full of wonderful schemes…. “I don't see … I still don't see how you are going to pull this off,” she whispered, as they moved into the parlor. It was hard for Maria to not look around her. She heard so many things being spoken between men and women. And the music was soft. Music played for lovers. The warmth of the house wrapped her in its embrace, making her almost sigh, and then she was led up the steepness of the stairs and whisked into a bedroom before Maria could even stop to see the door that led into the room of gamblers.
“We must hasten,” Ruby said, already helping Maria with the removal of her clothes. “Michael has been here for some time now. I have to be sure to catch him before he heads down the steps, looking for someone to take to bed. Here. You just hurry with disrobing, splash some of that oil from those bottles over there on my dressing table over your body, then wait for further instructions when I return.”
“Where are you going?”
“Togo and tell Michael that I have this beautiful new thing that needs to be broken in by the right man.”
“But.. . what will I wear . . . ?” Maria said, looking desperately around her, standing cross-armed, partially nude, in the middle of the room.
“Honey, for what I have planned, you don't need a stitch on,” Ruby laughed, then rushed from the room, slamming the door behind her.
Maria turned and stared at the room and its plush furnishings. When she looked toward the huge bed and its sheets of red satin, she closed her eyes, trying to not envision Michael on that bed with Ruby. She wanted to think of him as only her own. How marvelous it would be to say that he was hers . . . only … to love and cherish forever. But she knew this could not be true. This was a man who had had many women. Would he even think her skilled enough this night to quell his hungers? He at one time had . . . but possibly because she had been the only one available at the time. Had he truly loved her as he had professed to? Or had he only loved . . . her.. . body?
The polished mahogany bedstead and tables shone back at her in dark wines, and the carpet beneath her feet was soft beige, inviting her toes to curl into it. She glanced down at the underthings she still wore and wondered if she could indeed disrobe to only bare skin once again for a man's fingers to explore her body. She shivered, thinking of the thrill of such touches from Michael. Somehow it didn't seem quite fair to not be able to reveal her identity to him. And how was Ruby going to succeed at even doing this?
Maria went and slouched down onto a thickly upholstered chair, biting her lower lip. None of this was real. It just had to be a dream. Surely she would soon awaken and find herself in the bed in her own bedroom, surrounded by the most drab of settings. Her gaze moved around her once again, seeing the red rosebud design of the wallpaper that graced the walls and the brocade draperies that hung in pale beiges at the window. Then the breath caught in her throat when the door opened once again.
“Oh, it's only you, Ruby,” Maria sighed, rising.
“It's all taken care of,” Ruby said, moving to the bed, smoothing the pillows.
“What did you do?” Maria asked, going to Ruby, to cling to her arm. “What am I supposed to do?”
Ruby swung around, all smiles. She took Maria's hands and squeezed them. “I went to Michael and told him that I have me this new girl who has never been with a man in such a house as mine before,” she said. “I told him that to break the girl in, the girl has only agreed to take this man to bed with her if the man would agree to walking into a room of total darkness. I even told him that this girl would be too afraid to speak. He immediately became interested.”
Maria paled. “Do you .. . mean … he would actually … ?”
“Honey, don't you know? Any man would. All men like challenges. What better challenge than this … ?”
“But, my brother Alberto said that Michael looked .. . uh . .. down on his luck,” Maria murmured. “If he is down on his luck, how can he afford to gamble so much and have women? This all takes money.”
“Honey, I know all about this Michael Hopper,” Ruby purred. “Only I know his true purpose for being in this area. One day? Maybe you will even find out, whenever you can reveal yourself to the man you love. But until then, just take my word for it. You are just about to be bedded with one of the richest gents in Saint Louis.”
“Then he is still rich? Truly? And he still lives in Saint Louis?”
“Correct.”
“Then . . . why … is he here in this small community? Surely he has better places to visit in Saint Louis?”
“These are things you are not to worry your head about, honey,” Ruby said, going around the room, turning the lights out.
“How will he find his way to the . . . bed . if the lights are out?” Maria said weakly, looking slowly around her.
“I've told you. He's been in my room before.”