Read War Chest: Even Gods Fall in Love, Book 5 for Free Online

arrogant,” Henstall said. “Pride comes before a fall, and all that.”
    Marcus regarded the man who was more than a butler to him and shrugged. “I dare say you’re right, but I can usually tell when people are lying to me.”
    “Not always.”
    “No.” He finished his coffee and put the cup on its saucer, resting on a table by his side.
    “You possess a fireproof tongue,” Henstall remarked, blowing on his steaming brew.
    Marcus raised a brow. “I had no idea that was one of my attributes.”
    A smile cracked Henstall’s weathered face. “It isn’t. I think it comes from the mortal side of you. Do you want her followed?”
    “Watched,” he said. “I don’t think she wishes the twins any harm. In fact, when she thinks of them her mood softens. Perhaps she loves babies. When you found her, was she obviously prying?”
    Henstall chuckled. “No. She looked more obviously lost, but you never know. After your recent near-death experience, you should be more careful.”
    “What, the god of war can’t take care of himself?” Restlessly, Marcus got to his feet, and went to pour another cup of the strong brew.
    “Sometimes he can’t. In myth, he was trapped more than once, and mainly because of his arrogance in assuming he was invulnerable. Marcus, I care about you. Why didn’t you send for me in London?”
    He didn’t need to think about his answer, or about telling the one man he trusted above all others the truth. “Because I didn’t think I was in danger. The children were mortal, and so was their mother. I was trapped, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.” He turned around, leaning on the sideboard. “You’ve been telling me I should get married for a decade. I liked her well enough, so I considered the possibility. She’d already borne the children, so they could not become heirs, but we could have made more.”
    “You hardly knew her.”
    “That’s true enough,” he admitted. “However, she was sweet, pretty and in trouble. What else could I do? Then she died, and I was left—I would not have left the babies to the tender mercies of an orphanage. Even Coram’s provides basic upbringing and little else.”
    After putting his coffee on the side table, he swept a hand wide, indicating the house. “Why should I do that when I have all these rooms to fill? God knows I could easily forget I had children in the house.”
    “What of the other ailment?”
    “I’ll recover.” He didn’t want to talk about “the other ailment” and how easily he’d been deceived. Believing himself in the throes of a passionate affair, he hadn’t seen the net enclosing him until too late.
    The affair he’d conducted with Virginie had been public, passionate and scandalous, but he couldn’t have stopped it even if he’d thought about it more rationally. Circumstances separated them, and Virginie continued with her life, while Marcus was still trapped. The enchantment sank its claws deep into him and it wouldn’t let go.
    “Mercury cannot find a cure,” Henstall said. “He says the cause is more than the initial arrow Eros sent into you. In fact, the effects of that are entirely gone. Eros cannot remove an enchantment that is not there.”
    “I know that,” he growled. He’d reconciled with Eros, otherwise known as Edmund, Duke of Kentmere, because he had little choice. Better to sustain an uneasy relationship with a fellow Olympian than allow old grudges to set them at each other’s throats. The Titans, the enemies of them all, would love that, and do their best to break the alliance they were making. “I can cope. Like any addiction, it will pass.”
    “Mercury says if you find another woman, you may recover.”
    Marcus said nothing, but drank his second coffee at a single gulp. Then he turned around and headed for the sideboard—and the brandy decanter. To hell with it. He was going to be up all night anyway. He might as well put himself into a pleasant stupor.
    He never slept the