Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(80)

All in all, he was giving Pamela a pounding headache.

She tried to explain to him that with the open floor plan of his villa, abruptly going from Santiago marble, which was veined with reds, golds, siennas and greens, to Verde Fire, which was filled predominately with wild chartreuse, yellow and black, to Golden Alexandra, which was, well, golden, would be a terrible design error.

Artemis, again, saved the day.

"I like that one," she'd said, pointing one slender finger at a square of forgotten tile, lying well apart from the others.

"Do you, my goddess?" Eddie had said, instantly attentive.

Pamela had practically sprinted over to the tile. It was an understated creamy color, with slight buttercup variations which ran softly from a hint of yellow to a blush of gold. Pamela smiled. "It's lovely, but it's not marble. It's tumbled limestone." She carried it over to Artemis, who ran a caressing hand over its smooth surface.

"It's soft and perfect." Artemis looked at the author and purred. "Eddie, I would very much like to feel it pressed against my naked skin."

Eddie's eyes darkened. "Then allow me to fulfill your desire, my goddess. I choose this limestone to cover the floor of my humble home."

Humble home ? Oh, brother! Pamela wanted to roll her eyes. Instead, she winked a quick thank-you at Artemis and then began going over the specifics of the order with the delighted stone merchant. Somewhere in the middle of the weighty order she was struck with inspiration. She told the salesman to wait a second and, grinning, she rejoined Eddie on the bench near Artemis' dais.

"I have an idea you might find interesting," she said.

"Do tell us, Pamela!" Eddie said.

"Well, what would you think of putting the limestone in all the rooms of the villa, except the bathrooms. In them you get to go wild - choose a different marble for each of them, and then we'll create the color scheme and personality of that particular bathroom to reflect its own individual, distinct marble. It would be like an adventure to enter each powder room. And in the case of the bathrooms that are attached to suites, like the master suite and the five guest suites, we would take one color from the chosen marble and use it as the accent in the adjoining room."

"What a marvelous idea, Pamela!" Artemis said with what appeared to be genuine enthusiasm. "And what fun we'll have choosing each one."

Eddie's booming laugh caused several heads to turn. "Well done, Pamela!"

Pamela smiled at the big man. "Your home is going to be truly unique, Eddie." And for the first time she meant the words as a compliment. Then she called for the stone reps to bring out their most outlandish marble samples.

She was just sipping a bottle of icy sparkling water and studying a square of marble that reminded her of a kaleidoscope, when she felt Apollo's eyes on her. Again. She looked up. He must have been taking a break, because he was standing across the courtyard from her, looking over the artist's shoulder at the sketch being created of his sister. His head was still tilted down towards the sketch, but his eyes were on her. Automatically, her stomach tightened. Please don't let him look away, her errant thoughts whispered. She smiled tentatively at him. He returned her smile, and then his expression shifted, as if he remembered himself, and he dropped his eyes back to the sketch. Pamela sighed.

"Why do you punish him?"

Eddie's voice, uncharacteristically low, came from beside her. She jumped and wondered how the hell he'd gotten so close to her without being heard. Pamela glanced up at the big man, ready to insist that she didn't know what he was talking about... and the honest concern on his face stopped her dismissive words.

"I don't want to punish him. I just don't know what to do about him," she said.

"You do know that he loves you?"

Pamela blinked in surprise, and Eddie rumbled a low, subdued version of his laugh.

"You should always remember that I am an author, which is really just a storyteller who observes the world and then reshapes it into his own vision to entertain and amuse. Besides that, Phoebus does not attempt to hide his feelings for you - it is you who masks what your heart feels for him. Is that not so?"

"Yes," she said softly.

"I know it is presumptuous of me to ask, but why? He seems a man of excellent character."

She hesitated, unsure of whether she could tell him any part of the truth.

"You are safe talking to me, Pamela. What you say will not affect our business relationship. And I would like you to think of me as your friend. I have always considered it sublimely ridiculous when people say that they never mix business with pleasure. How colorless their lives must be as they trudge alone under the burden of such restrictive rules. So tell me, what is it that is keeping you from accepting Phoebus?"

She studied Eddie's eyes. They were guileless and filled with warm concern. "If I tell you the truth, do I need to be afraid that it will appear in one of your books?" she asked, only half in jest.

This time his laugh boomed throughout the courtyard. "That is always the danger when befriending an author." He leaned in and lowered his voice to a stage whisper, "but I give you my oath that I will change your name."

Making a decision based entirely upon what her gut was telling her, she blurted, "I'm scared of getting hurt. Aren't you?"