Moon of Aphrodite Read Online Free PDF

Nor
    were there any policemen in the vicinity.
    At last, in desperation, she entered the nearest shop, a chemist's, and this time she was
    luckier. The chemist, a dark young man with a beard, spoke almost perfect English, but
    he looked at her dubiously when she explained where she wished to go. 'In the heat of
    the day, thespinis? Is it wise?' 'I only have a few hours in Athens,' she explained. He
    shrugged, looking at her slender arms revealed by the sleeveless navy dress she was
    wearing. 'You have a very fair skin. It needs protection in our sun.' He reached to one
    of: the shelves behind him and produced a tube of sun cream. 'This wil helpa little, but
    you must take care or you wil burn, and that is not pleasant.'
    She thanked him rather doubtful y. After al , she had only come in to find out where the
    bus stop was, not to spend any of her smal hoard of drachmas on expensive sun
    cream, but when she produced her money, he waved it away.
    'I do not wish payment, thespinis. It is my pleasure to do this for you.' He smiled into
    her eyes with a frank sensual appreciation that sent the colour racing into her face.
    'Perhaps one day you wil come back to Athens.'
    He escorted her to the pavement, and pointed out to her exactly where she could catch
    her bus. It occurred to Helen as she moved away that with very little encouragement he
    would probably Save come with her. And she recal ed too that Greek women were
    supposed to lead quite sheltered lives until their marriage. Judging by the way the men
    behaved on the slightest acquaintance, they had good reason to be sheltered! she
    thought with faint amusement.
    There were already several people waiting at the stop when she arrived, and she hoped
    that was a good sign and that the bus would be along very shortly. Time was passing
    more rapidly than she could have believed possible, and she had no idea how long the
    journey to the Acropolis would take.
    But twenty minutes later they were stil waiting, and Helen was ready to scream with
    frustration. Most of the other would-be passengers had moved back from the bus stand
    to find themselves patches of shade, but Helen remained at the edge of the pavement,
    straining her eyes as she peered down the hil at the oncoming traffic.
    She noticed the car at once, because of its opulence and sleek lines. And then she saw
    who was driving it, and a little gasp escaped her. It was Damon Leandros, and he was
    not alone. There was a girl with him, dark and in her way as opulently beautiful as the
    car. She was smiling and talking to him animatedly, and at any moment the car would
    be past and gone, then Damon Leandros turned slightly to flick his cigarette out of the
    window, and his eyes met Helen's across two lanes of traffic. She was thankful those
    two lanes existed, because as walas recognition and disbelief, she had seen the
    beginnings of anger in hisface.
    She glanced down the hil again, biting her lip anxiously. He was caught in the traffic,
    and couldn't stop, and anyway this was a one-way street, yet something told her that
    he would be back.
    A battered grey taxi swerved into the side of the road to dischargeits passenger, and
    Helen leapt for the opening door, almost knocking over the indignant Athenian who
    emerged in her haste.
    The driver was very dark and unshaven, and looked like a member of the Greek Mafia,
    but he seemed to understand that she wanted to be driven to the Acropolis, even if he
    displayed no real inclination to take her there. He put the car into gear with a gut-
    wrenching screech and hurled it into the stream of traffic, muttering al the time under
    his breath as he did so.
    Helen, being bounced around in the back seat from one side of the car to the other,
    was almost numb with rage. Quite a few of the taxis she had noticed in the streets had
    had the same battered look, with bumps and
    dents, and sometimes even their headlights taped up,
    and if this was a sample of the way they were usual y driven, she