Sinners at the Altar

by Olivia Cunning

  “He was only lord of Sudeley Castle for two years,” the guide continued. “He didn’t have much claim to the place.”

  “I don’t think he’d agree with that,” Jace said under his breath.

  The guide cocked a brow at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. Please continue.”

  The guide gave him a long look and then took a deep breath to continue with her rehearsed spiel about a different lord of Sudeley Castle.

  “Scoundrel, eh?” Jace said, and then he produced an unfamiliar soft laugh. “If only the truth were half as interesting as the lies.”

  “Have you completely lost it?” Aggie asked Jace.

  He looped his arm through hers and trailed after the group, looking mildly amused for some inexplicable reason.

  “It is a distinct possibility, my dear,” he said in a perfect English accent.

  She gaped at him, but allowed him to lead her into the next room. “You’re full of surprises today.”

  “Am I?”

  She nodded.

  “Must be a side effect of basking in your splendid beauty, lovey,” he said.

  She stopped, drawing him to a halt beside her, and checked him for fever yet again. Jace didn’t say things like that unless they were in bed and he was sure there was no one around to hear him. Or even see his lips move. She hadn’t known he even knew the word splendid. And when the fuck had he started calling her lovey? “I think you need to see a doctor, baby.”

  “I think you need to kiss me.” He drew her against him and brushed his lips against hers. A nearby door slammed. Jace pulled away and cupped her cheek. “She always was the jealous sort.”

  Aggie drew her eyebrows together and shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s nothing. I’m just teasing.”

  She might have believed him if he were the type to tease. He wasn’t. Jace turned and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow again. He led her to a closed door, the one that had slammed for no apparent reason when Jace had kissed her. Even his gait was stiffer than usual as he opened the door and ushered her through it. He looked like Jace, but he didn’t talk like Jace or act like Jace or even walk like Jace. If she believed in ghosts and the supernatural—and she didn’t—she’d have insisted they turn back. Something was filling her with a dread she couldn’t explain.

  “Uh,” Jace said, “I think we’ll skip the next room.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s Mary’s nursery. I don’t want to go in there.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I… overheard the guide say as much.” He nodded resolutely.

  “Jace…” A chill raced down her spine as he took a step back from the room where the tour guide was speaking rather loudly about the child born to Queen Katherine and her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour.

  “Very tragic,” the guide said. “The baby was only days old when her mother died of puerperal fever.”

  “I don’t think you should go in there either,” he said.

  Aggie straightened her spine, wondering when it had become a yellow wet noodle, and strode across the hall to the door with as much confidence as she could muster. “I’m going in.”

  When she was about to cross the threshold, the door slammed in her face. Aggie’s breath caught in her throat.

  She glanced at Jace, who was looking around as if completely lost.

  “How did I get here?” he asked.

  “You walked. I need to find a bathroom,” Aggie said. “I suddenly need to go really bad.” And she wanted to get away from that nursery as soon as possible. Part of her wanted to get away from Jace as soon as possible.

  “We shouldn’t leave the tour,” Jace said.

  “Do you want me to piss my pants?”

  “Maybe.” He grinned his usual adorable grin.

  She hugged him against her tightly, relief settling over her. “You’re you.”

  “Who else would I be?”

  “Something weird is going on here.”

  “I’ll say,” he said. He squeezed her even harder than she was squeezing him and then took a deep breath before releasing his hold. “Let’s find you a bathroom.”

  Aggie nodded gratefully. Ghosts didn’t haunt toilets, did they? Hopefully they only did so in Harry Potter novels.

  Chapter Four

  Jace gazed out a window while he waited for Aggie to come out of the bathroom. There was something about this place that soothed him. A strange connection. He almost felt like he’d been here before. At the same time he felt unsettled, as if he was supposed to be doing something, but couldn’t remember what it was.

  He caught a spot of color out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to see an elegant woman dressed in a green gown from the Tudor period. She stood directly beside Jace staring out the window next to his. Her face was flawless and a translucent white. He had the strangest feeling that even though she was standing right beside him, she wasn’t actually there. The hairs on his arm stood on end.

  “Hello?” he said.

  She didn’t acknowledge his presence. There were no sounds coming from her. Not the sound of breathing or the rustle of clothing. Dead silence. He took a step back, and she turned her head and smiled at him with recognition. Thomas. Her mouth didn’t move, but he heard her voice in his head. I’ve waited so long, my love. So long.

  “Jace, there you are,” Aggie called to him.

  Jace started and turned his head reflexively in Aggie’s direction. By the time he turned back to the woman in green, she’d vanished.

  “Where did she go?” Jace asked, peering down the hallway in both directions.

  “Who?”

  “The woman at the window.”

  Aggie craned her neck to look behind him and then met his eyes warily.

  “There was no one here but you when I came out of the bathroom.”

  “But she was right there when you called my name,” Jace said, indicating the empty space beside him with a wave.

  “I didn’t see her,” Aggie said.

  He closed his eyes. First he had blacked out for several minutes and now he was seeing and hearing things.

  “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”

  He also had cold sweat trickling down his spine, but no explanation for who the woman was or where she’d gone or why he’d heard her voice in his head.

  “I’m not sure. I should probably sit down for a second.”

  “Maybe we should just leave.”

  “No,” he said hastily. He didn’t want to leave. The very idea filled him with sorrow.

  Aggie wrapped him in her arms. “I’m worried about you.”

  I’m worried about me too, he thought, but he didn’t say it. He did welcome her embrace though, until the tour guide and a dozen or so people came out of a library.

  “Civil ceremonies are sometimes performed in the library, but most weddings are performed in St. Mary’s Chapel,” the guide said. Her eyes landed on Jace. “There you are. We thought we’d lost you. Please keep up with the rest of the group; we’re heading outdoors now. You missed much of the special tour.”

  Jace nodded slightly, thinking he’d had enough of the special tour, thank you very much, and loosened his grip on Aggie. He hadn’t realized he’d been hugging her so tightly.

  “We could skip out now,” Aggie whispered in his ear. “I’ll drive the rest of the way to the festival if you’re not up to it.” She leaned back and patted his chest. “Just be sure to wear your seat belt. No guarantees I’ll get us there in one piece.”

  “I’m okay,” he assured her. “I’d like to see the grounds before we go.” It was as if something was tugging him to follow the group.

  “You do look like you could use some fresh air.”

  “I’m fine,” he said and pulled her questing hand from his forehead. Did he look like he was about to take his last breath or what?

  They followed the group, keeping the others within sight, but didn
’t mingle with the crowd. The guide was giving details on hedges and other plants. Jace was content to look at them without knowing their names or what year they’d been planted. Hand in hand, he and Aggie rounded a corner, and Aggie stopped dead in her tracks.

  Eyes wide, she covered her mouth with one hand, and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s beautiful!” she squealed in the most girly display of excitement Jace had ever witnessed out of the woman.

  He followed her gaze across the expanse of colorful gardens, symmetrical walkways, and perfectly shaped hedges to the notched roofline of a church.

  “Jace!” she gasped, took his hand, and dragged him toward the building. “I want to get married here.”

  “Now?” he sputtered stupidly. Talk about spur of the moment.

  She laughed and slowed her steps as they approached the open front doors of the church. “Not today,” she said. “We’ll have to make arrangements. But soon.” She tore her awe-stricken stare from the romantic building to smile at him. “You’re going to marry me here. Okay?”

  He grinned, a bit overwhelmed by the sudden rush of emotion clogging his throat. He’d thought she’d never find the place, even though she’d insisted, “we’ll know it when we see it,” and she’d chosen here of all places.

  “Okay,” he said. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Yeah?” she said, lighting up like a child on Christmas morning.

  “Yeah.”

  She threw herself into his arms and kissed him excitedly. He was very much enjoying participating in her enthusiastic make-out session until someone cleared her throat. Jace pulled his reluctant lips from Aggie’s and turned his head, expecting to see the tour guide. A woman he was sure he’d never seen before was standing at the top of the church steps, looking down at them with a knowing grin.

  “Would you like to see inside?” she asked.

  “Oh yes!” Aggie said, grabbing Jace by the sleeve of his leather jacket and yanking him up the steps before he could blink.

  She entered the church a bit more respectfully and sucked in a deep breath while Jace tried to get his eyes to focus in the dim light.

  “Oh, Jace, isn’t it perfect?”

  From what his spotted vision could see, yeah, it was nice.

  The woman standing beside Aggie handed her something and she used it to dab at her eyes. Aggie didn’t cry often. She’d cried when he’d been shot and they’d been reunited in the hospital. She’d cried when he’d told her of the most painful experiences of his past. She’d cried when he’d proposed to her. And she was crying now. Something monumental was happening for them. He was just going to go with it.

  “It’s even more romantic on the inside,” she said and leaned her head against Jace’s shoulder.

  He took in the diamond-patterned floor, the rich mahogany of the pews, the intricately carved woodwork above the pulpit, and the spectacular stained-glass windows in arched frames along both side walls and behind the altar. It was the chapel most girls dreamed of getting married in. But Aggie wasn’t most girls. Or maybe she was.

  He kissed her temple and rubbed her lower back.

  “When can we get married here?” Jace asked.

  “That would depend on what kind of ceremony you have planned,” the woman said, smiling kindly.

  “What kind of ceremony do we have planned?” Jace asked Aggie.

  She laughed and dabbed at her eyes. “We’re open to suggestions.”

  The woman’s smile broadened. “Would you like to go to my office and talk?” she said. “I’m Charity Watson—the event planner for the castle. I’d love to help you two make plans to tie the knot.”

  Jace nodded enthusiastically and with his hand on Aggie’s lower back, directed his soon-to-be wife to follow Charity out of the chapel.

  Aggie finally had agreed to marry him. He thought his chest might burst from the mix of love, excitement, and pride stirring within him.

  Yeah, he was stoked that they were finally going to get married.

  Even though the place she’d chosen was probably haunted.

  Chapter Five

  Aggie wiped her inexplicably sweaty palms on her jeans as she watched Charity circle her desk and sit across from her and Jace.

  “We want to get married in that gorgeous little chapel as soon as possible,” Aggie told her.

  “Are you both American citizens?”

  Aggie nodded. “Will that be a problem?”

  “Potentially. You have to be in England for a minimum of fifteen days before the ceremony for it to be legally recognized.”

  “We could do a two-week honeymoon before the wedding,” Jace suggested.

  “Can we have a ceremony here and then have a legal get-hitched-quick courthouse wedding back in the States?” Aggie asked.

  “I don’t see why that would be an issue,” Charity said.

  “Would anyone be horribly offended if we got married in the chapel even though neither of us are members of the Church of England?”

  The wedding coordinator smiled at them. “Who could be offended by two people so obviously in love as you two getting married in their church?”

  Aggie glanced at Jace, who was very red in the face.

  “So how soon can we do this?” Aggie asked. Now that she’d found the place, she wanted to get married as soon as possible.

  “What’s the rush all of a sudden?” Jace asked. “Afraid I’ll get away?”

  Aggie kicked him out of sight of the woman on the opposite side of the desk.

  “If you want a spring or summer wedding, keep in mind that the castle is open to tourists,” Charity told them. “It’s not usually a huge concern, but if you wait until the castle closes for the winter, you’ll have more privacy.”

  “I like privacy,” Jace said.

  Charity smiled. “I thought you might.” She flipped through the day planner on her desk. “The first possible date in our off-season would be November first.”

  Jace breathed a sigh of obvious relief. Aggie scowled at him.

  “That will give us enough time to plan something special,” Jace explained. “We need a few months to organize. And you don’t really want a bunch of strangers gawking at us while we get married, do you?”

  Aggie patted his hand. He was right, she wouldn’t. And she knew he would be very uncomfortable in that situation. Five and a half months wasn’t all that long to wait.

  “November first it is,” Aggie said, a huge grin plastered to her face.

  “Wonderful,” Charity said. “Here’s a brochure. We’ll exchange contact information and make further arrangements.”

  “What happened to the rooms I had built for my lady?” Jace asked. “She cannot find comfort in these halls.”

  Aggie jerked her head to give him a strange look. “What?”

  Jace blinked at her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “What did you just say? It didn’t make any sense.”

  Jace shrugged and shook his head. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You did. I heard you.” Aggie turned to Charity to back her up. “Didn’t he just say something about building rooms for his lady and comfortable halls?”

  The coordinator lifted a brow and shook her head slightly. “I didn’t hear him say as much, but he is rather quiet for such an attractive man.” Her cheeks went pink. She reached for an address book to record their personal information. “Names.”

  “Agatha Christine Martin,” Aggie said. Soon to be Agatha Christine Seymour, which was an even worse name. She vowed that if they ever had children, she’d give them decent names to help counter the Seymour Butts jokes they were sure to endure.

  “Jason Thomas Seymour,” Jace said absently.

  The woman stopped with her pen in midstroke. “Thomas Seymour?”

  “Your middle name isn’t Thomas, it’s Michael,” Aggie said.

  Jace’s dark eyebrows drew together. “You’re right. I don’t know why I said that. I’m kind of distracted.”


  This place seemed to bring that out in him.

  “You’re a Seymour?” Charity lifted a golden blond eyebrow at him.

  Jace nodded.

  “Thomas Seymour was the baron of this holding in the sixteenth century,” she said. “Did you visit Queen Katherine’s tomb in the church? He was married to her.”

  Jace shook his head, his face a shade paler than usual. “We didn’t make it that far in the tour, but Aggie was reading about him in her guidebook and the tour guide mentioned him several times. That must be why I gave you the wrong name.”

  “I wonder if you’re related,” Charity said, sitting straighter in her chair. Head cocked to one side, her gray eyes assessed him with interest.

  Jace laughed. “Not likely.”

  “Ah well, we can pretend,” she said and winked at him. “I think you should go visit Queen Katherine before you leave today. Some claim to have seen her ghost. A tall, elegant woman in a green gown.”

  Aggie chuckled. Ghosts? Who in this day and age would believe in such nonsense? She rolled her eyes at Jace, but he did not look amused.

  “We’ll have to postpone that visit until we return in November,” he said. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

  And by the way he was perched on the edge of his chair, Aggie assumed it was anywhere but here.

  “You do want to get married here, don’t you?” Aggie asked, grabbing him firmly by the elbow before he launched himself out of his seat.

  “Can’t wait,” he said breathlessly.

  But something about the way he held his body so stiffly made Aggie doubt his sincerity.

  Chapter Six

  Halloween

  Aggie dropped her bag wearily inside the bedroom door of the cottage she was sharing with her mother for the night. She felt that she got the short straw on that draw, but the other cottages just outside the Sudeley Castle grounds were occupied by couples, and since her new stepfather hadn’t been able to attend the wedding ceremony, Aggie’s mother had come to England without him. She’d been driving Aggie nuts since they boarded their flight in Los Angeles over eleven hours before. Sitting between her incredibly introverted fiancé and her obtrusively extroverted mother for that many hours had worn Aggie’s nerves raw. This was supposed to be the happiest time of her life, and she just wanted to kick someone in the face.