Free Eros by Helen Harper Page B

watched her warily, wondering what she was thinking. Her usually smooth forehead was furrowed and his hand itched to lean over and massage away the creases. Thank goodness he’d managed to turn the phone off before she’d turned around. After twenty-four hours, he didn’t think Ms Sawyer was quite ready to believe she was living with an invisible god.
    When she gave up, and walked back off to the kitchen, he quietly opened the door to the east wing, walked inside and pressed re-dial.
    ‘Hey,’ complained Hermes when he answered, ‘what gives? You hung up on me!’
    ‘I was with Skye,’ Coop said.
    ‘Who?’
    He shook his head slightly. ‘Sorry, Ms Sawyer. I was with Ms Sawyer. She heard the phone and obviously realised someone was there.’
    ‘So she knows you’re invisible?’ asked Hermes, aghast.
    ‘No, she was turned the other way,’ Coop explained. ‘Look, just don’t call me in the future, okay? I’ll call you.’
    ‘Fine,’ his friend said, with an obvious note of hurt in his voice.
    ‘I just don’t want her to think she’s going crazy, that’s all.’
    ‘You know the easiest way to manage that would be for you not to live with her. She’s going to catch on sooner or later, Coop.’
    ‘How on earth is she going to do that? Who would believe they’re living with the Invisible Man?’
    Hermes sighed. ‘I’m just saying I think this is a bad idea.’
    ‘You’ve already said that,’ Coop responded, ‘several times. Anyway, what were you calling about?’
    ‘I thought you’d want to know what was going on with Mr Sunshine.’
    ‘Apollo?’
    ‘Who else? He went round to your girl’s house this morning and pretty much went crazy when she wasn’t there. He’s got half of his minions out looking for her. They’ll trace her to that flight sooner or later.’
    ‘Yeah, that doesn’t mean he’ll work out she’s with me, though. I want him to enjoy the feeling of desperation that she might have disappeared before I move on to phase two.’
    ‘Do I want to know what phase two is?’
    ‘Probably not,’ said Coop cheerfully. ‘One more thing before you go, though, Herm.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘She’s not my girl. She’s just a means to an end.’ And with that, Coop hung up.
     
     

Chapter Ten
     
    The next day, Skye prepared her own breakfast and sat eating it at the large kitchen table rather than taking it down to the pool. She was here to work, she told herself firmly, not enjoy the Greek weather and laze around as if she were on holiday. Mr Kamadeva had left her a new list of things to do, which she glanced over as she ate.
    To begin with, there was a pile of yellowing handwritten letters in some incomprehensible language which he had asked her to type up. They sat on the table, at least an inch thick. Skye wasn’t bad at touch-typing but it would take her at least the entire morning to complete the lot. After that, she was to bid for an ancient samurai sword which was going under the hammer at Sotheby’s in England. Finally, she had to purchase a plot of land in Sicily.
    Deciding to prioritise, Skye figured she could work on the typing at any time and that the auction wouldn’t take place for at least another three hours, so the land purchase would probably be the best starting point. When she opened up her laptop and searched for it, however, she discovered it was an area of particular historical significance. There wasn’t much visible on the land now, other than some very old stones marking out the site of an ancient temple, but the Italian government were trying to buy it themselves to preserve it for future generations.
    She wrote out a note for her employer, detailing what she’d found out about the place and advised him that it might be worth reconsidering his purchase. Then she took the laptop into another room which was set up as a study and started on the typing.
    A few hours later, her fingers starting to cramp, she took a break and returned to the kitchen to make a