She, in turn, stared thoughtfully at the three red crosses on his surcoat.
Manfred shut the door hastily behind them. He had no trouble looking at her.
“Your friend seems a little shy.” There was amusement in her rich contralto voice.
Manfred snorted. “Don’t mind him, demoiselle. In fact, don’t mind us. We’re just passing through.”
“Demoiselle!” She chuckled. “Most of my visitors are just ‘passing through,’ darling.” Her accent was a little strange to Erik, despite his skill with languages. Not that he was interested right now in worrying about where she came from.
“Well, we mean really passing through your room,” said Manfred, heading for the window. “If you’d oblige us by not screaming about it, I’ll come back for a longer and more generous visit when the fuss has died down. Oh.”
The “oh” was aimed at the close-set steel bars in the window.
The woman laughed. Her laughter was low and cool, much like her chuckle. “Madame Claudia doesn’t like customers leaving—or coming in—without having to pass through her cash box.”
In the background they could hear the distant sounds of the pursuit. Getting closer. “We’d better get out there, Manfred,” said Erik grimly, heading for the door. “We’ll have to try and fight our way out.”
“Wait,” commanded the woman. “There is another way out. You’ll just have to wait until the passage is empty.” She had inserted herself between Erik and the door, as effectively—in his case—as a portcullis.
“They’re likely to search,” said Manfred. Unlike Erik he had no problems looking at her. Or at picking her up and moving her . . .
Her means of thwarting him was to blow a kiss at him. “I think I can hide you for few minutes. For a . . .” she broke off, as if she’d reached a sudden decision. “Never mind.” She looked appraisingly at Erik, and then turned to Manfred.
“You, and especially your shy friend, present me with something of a challenge.” She laughed wickedly. “Come on, big boys. Both of you. Get those clothes off. There must be twenty of them out there.”
“I’ll go,” said Erik hastily. “They’re only looking for me.”
Manfred grabbed him. “Don’t be a fool, Erik. The demoiselle is right. If there are two of us—ah, occupied with her—they’re likely to look elsewhere. Come on, Erik. Get them off. Especially that surcoat.”
The woman began expertly removing the horrified Erik’s trousers. “I have some wigs. Some of my clients like a little masquerade. And you’d better call me Francesca. As charming as ‘demoiselle’ is, my clients do know my name.”
* * *
Looking up at Manfred’s hairy thighs standing over him was, Erik decided, the best view from a moral standpoint. Even if it was not attractive in any other sense. He couldn’t just close his eyes when a murderous bunch might burst in on him at any moment—
Not with him trapped in this position. With Francesca’s silky thighs straddled over him—muscular thighs, for all the soft smoothness of her skin—if he looked forward his view was of large naked breasts. Better to look at Manfred, even if large hairy . . .
The situation was grotesque! Especially because Manfred and Francesca didn’t share any of his own sense of modesty.
He couldn’t quite see just what Francesca was doing with Manfred, but the noise didn’t leave much to the imagination. And she didn’t have to roll her hips on him like that! It wasn’t as if he could do anything.
* * *
When the Schiopettieri captain wrenched open the door moments later, he was greeted with the sight of three naked people on the bed, indulging in what his wife would have called “unnatural acts” that he himself would fantasize about for weeks thereafter. The slimmer dark-haired fellow who was being straddled was plainly putting in a tremendous effort, to judge by his bright red face.
Francesca removed part of her oxlike client’s anatomy from her mouth. “We’re busy, Luigi. You’ll have to come back later,” she said lazily.
The Schiopettieri captain shut the door hastily.
* * *
“Give it a minute and I think you can leave. Unless you’d like to finish off also,” she added coquettishly, tickling the hastily dressing and red-faced Erik in the ribs.