“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 S
udeley 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.
“This is quaint,” her mom said. “I expected accommodations at a castle to be a bit grander.”
“The castle itself is breathtaking,” Aggie assured her. “The guest cottages are newer. Besides, I like them.”
“I saw the castle on the way in,” her mom said. “It was beautiful. Very romantic. I always thought you’d get married someplace a bit gloomier.”
“Why’s that?”
Her mother chuckled, the sound low and throaty. “Well, you’ve always swayed toward the dark and macabre. And it is Halloween, after all.”
“But I’m getting married tomorrow, not tonight.”
“Close enough.” Her mom grinned and began searching through her purse.
There was a knock at the door, and Aggie opened it at once. Jace smiled at her, but he looked almost as weary as she felt. She ushered him inside and closed the door to the chilly afternoon air.
“We need to meet with the event planner to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow,” he said. “And apparently Eric has cooked up something special for everyone tonight, Halloween being his favorite holiday after April Fool’s Day.”
“I’m not sure I’m up for Eric’s nonsense tonight,” Aggie said with a tired sigh. “I have jet lag from hell.”
He touched her cheek gently and stared into her eyes almost dreamily. “Maybe we’ll have time for a nap before Eric’s Halloween bash.”
“Agatha! Come look at this view!” her mother called from somewhere in the cottage.
“In a minute, Ma!” she yelled. “Do you really think my mother is going to let me sleep?” Aggie asked Jace.
“I wasn’t planning on letting you sleep,” he said. “And I was inviting you to my cottage. The one without your mother.”
“Aren’t you rooming with Eric and Rebekah for tonight?”
“I’m sure they’ll be busy with other things this afternoon.” He leaned close and whispered, “Which leaves the cottage free for me to get busy with you.”
She snorted at his use of “get busy.” “You do know I’m in a really bad mood, right?”
He grinned and lowered his eyes. “Yep. I was kind of hoping you’d take your anger out on me.”
She chuckled and kissed the tip of his nose. So he was after a little pain. Why hadn’t he just said so to begin with? “I think I’ll take you up on that nap.”
“I thought you might.”
He drew her into his arms and kissed her hungrily. Her cranky was rapidly being replaced by her horny. The man had that sort of effect on her.
“Save it for the honeymoon, lovebirds,” her mom said from somewhere behind her.
Aggie stiffened and pulled away from Jace. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I love you.”
Her heart warmed and even her annoying mother couldn’t have put a damper on the joy brought from hearing those three words from him. “I love you too.” Aggie turned toward her mother, who was grinning at the two of them. She looked almost happy for them.
“We’re going to go talk to the event planner and make sure everything is all set for tomorrow,” Aggie said, reaching around Jace to open the door. She prodded him toward the exit, trying to make her escape.
It had been a challenge planning and arranging everything by phone and email, but Charity was excellent at her job and had put Aggie’s fears about the wedding to rest. Mostly.
“Just let me get a cigarette and retrieve my jacket,” her mom said. “It’s a bit chilly out.”
Aggie winced, but didn’t refuse to let her accompany them. Her mom was the only parent she and Jace had between them, and Aggie knew Mom wanted to participate in the wedding. She only had one daughter to marry off, and Aggie was only going to get married once, so this was her only chance to be mother of the bride. Aggie just hoped her mom would make her a believer of miracles by keeping her over-the-top personality reeled in a bit.
“We’ll wait for you outside,” Aggie said and stepped out onto the front step. Jace followed behind her and closed the door.
He took her hand, holding it gently in his warm grip, and they walked slowly toward the main castle so that her mother could catch up with them easily when she emerged from the cozy cabin.
“Do you think it’s cold enough to snow?” Jace asked, glancing up at the overcast sky.
“Not quite,” Aggie said. “But we might get some rain.”
“I miss the snow,” he said. “Let’s go someplace cold for Christmas this year. It’s just not the same when it’s warm and sunny.”
“As long as we stay huddled together in a cozy cabin. No driving.”
His hand tightened on hers, and she knew they were both thinking about the last time they’d seen snow. It had been in Canada two years before, and they’d nearly lost their lives in a bus accident.
“Yeah,” he said. “Some nice cabin in the mountains that allows pets.”
Aggie smiled. “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Brownie,” she said.
“She loves the decorations,” he said with a gentle smile.
Jace’s cat loved methodically stripping Christmas trees of all decorations, as if it were her mission in life. Aggie had been exasperated with the beast last Christmas until after the third time she’d decorated the tree and decided it was a losing battle. Besides, it made Jace laugh to watch his cat chase a wobbling Christmas bulb across the room, and anything that made him laugh was worthwhile to Aggie.
“Do you feel like we’re already married?” Jace asked.
“We have been living together for over a year.”
“Is this really the big deal everyone makes it out to be? I’ve felt like you are my wife for a long while now. Doesn’t it seem like I’m already your husband?”
Until she stood before all their friends and spoke her vows to him, it didn’t feel official to her. “No. I love you as if you’re my husband, but I’m looking forward to marrying you tomorrow. Can’t wait.”
He squeezed her hand again, telegraphing all sorts of mushy feelings she knew he’d never voice, but she understood his affection.
“Me too,” he said, grinning brightly. “Even if we won’t be legally married until we return to California.”
She stole a kiss, unable to resist his appeal when he unleashed that carefully concealed charm of his.
“I hope it doesn’t rain on your wedding day,” Aggie’s mom said from several paces behind them. “Are you two at it again?” she asked.
Aggie drew away from Jace’s delightful lips and tossed a look of annoyance in her mother’s direction. “We’re going to be at it for the next seventy or eighty years, so you’d better get used to it.”
Her mom laughed. “You two are so cute together. Both hard on the outside and soft on the inside. You’ve cracked each other’s shells and are all gooey and mixed up together now.”
Aggie rolled her eyes. She had no idea where her mother had come up with such a silly idea. The idea that Aggie had a soft spot anywhere in her being was preposterous. Well, okay, so she did have one soft spot. But it was very small and well hidden. She only let