Sinners at the Altar (Page 142)

If I’d known I’d see her again, I wouldn’t have tried to forget her in the arms of other women. Kat was different. Kat saw me, the man beneath the scoundrel. She knew what I was and loved me anyway.

“I have a woman like that,” Jace said.

Treat her well.

Jace nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

He sat quietly for a moment, wondering if his best was really good enough for Aggie. Even with a lifetime of loving stretching before them, he wasn’t sure if that was enough time to give her all that she deserved. But if they could be together forever—beyond death—then maybe… Maybe she could come to realize the depth of his devotion.

He couldn’t imagine the devastation that Thomas must have endured when Katherine died; first watching his child grow within her, seeing her hold that child, love that child, then watching her die days later, leaving them to carry on without her. Jace didn’t know that he’d have made the same decisions Thomas made—being unable to love the child they’d created—or if he’d have clung to and cherish the little piece of her left on Earth, but he knew that if he ever lost Aggie, his heart might as well stop beating.

“You still there, Thomas?” Jace said.

Yes.

“Go tell Katherine what’s in your heart, man. Just tell her.”

And if she doesn’t forgive me?

“At least you tried.”

Will you tell your lady what’s in your heart as well?

“Tomorrow,” Jace promised. “When I marry her.” He would lay his heart at her feet and pray she didn’t stomp on it.

Chapter Twelve

Jace stirred. The sound of rain lashing against the windows was a muted lullaby that made finding consciousness a challenge. He slowly opened his eyes to be confronted by a direct blue-eyed stare. He flinched, releasing a gasp of surprise.

“I’m not that scary in the morning, am I?” Eric asked with a wry grin.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Trying to wake you with the power of my mind. Did it work?”

Jace smacked him in the face with a pillow. “You are so fucking weird, Sticks.”

“That’s a given.” He gripped the pillow between both hands, stood up straight so he was no longer leaning over the bed staring in Jace’s face, and shrugged. “Did you sleep well?”

Jace stretched lethargically and grinned with contentment.

“Good,” Eric said. “I thought you might like to know that your wedding starts in twenty minutes, he-who-sleeps-like-the-dead.”

“What!”

Jace kicked the tangle of covers aside and leapt from the bed, searching the cottage in a mixture of disorientation and panic. Eric was already dressed in his tux, and the clock on the fireplace mantel made it clear that Eric had not been joking about the time. It was a quarter till one in the afternoon. “Where’s Aggie?”

“Somewhere getting ready with Rebekah and the rest of the women. They wouldn’t let me watch them dress. Can you believe it?”

Jace dashed to the closet and pulled out the garment bag that held his tuxedo. He tossed it on the bed and yanked the zipper open. “Yeah, you perv. Most women think that’s creepy.”

“They just don’t know what I’m missing.” He wet a finger and smoothed one eyebrow with it.

Jace shook his head and laughed. “Once a perv, always a perv.”

His highly polished black shoes tumbled out of the bottom of the bag, and he reached for his slacks. He decided he didn’t have time for a shower. Good thing he’d taken one last night before he’d climbed into bed alone. No Aggie, but also no ghosts, thank God.

“Takes one to know one. Rebekah made me feel better by promising that I could watch her undress later.”

“Good thing you met that woman.”

“And I say the same of you and Aggie. I guess there really is someone out there for everyone.”

Jace hurried through dressing, one eye on the clock. “Why didn’t you wake me when you left this morning?”

“I did. Several times. You said you were up. Aggie sent me to check on you since you hadn’t shown up yet. Good thing she did. Only you would sleep through your own wedding.”

Jace didn’t remember Eric waking him at all. He had gotten to bed rather late. Once he’d made his way back to the ball—without Thomas infiltrating his thoughts—everyone had given him a hard time about trying to kill Aggie with a chandelier but chickening out at the last moment. His friends had strange senses of humor.

“I suppose I don’t have time for caffeine.” Jace slipped the tuxedo jacket on and then sat on the edge of the bed to put on his socks.

“No, but do take the time to brush your teeth. You don’t want to melt Aggie’s face off with your dragon breath.”

Jace slipped on his shoes and darted toward the bathroom. Managing not to piss on his shoes while multitasking brushing his teeth and relieving his bladder, he went over his vows in his head. Forgetting what to say was not an option. Almost every person he knew would be there, but he figured he could get through it if he just kept his eyes on Aggie the entire time. Still, his stomach began to do its best impersonation of a roller coaster.

“You can do this,” he said to his reflection as he dabbed some gel at the ends of his bleached-blond tips to spike them haphazardly.

He gargled a bit of mouthwash and washed his hands. He ran a hand over his jaw and winced. His beard stubble was a little longer than he normally kept it, but he didn’t have time to trim it. Damn it, why hadn’t he woken sooner? Aggie would be furious with him if he was late. And as much as he’d enjoy her punishing him, he did not want to disappoint her.