The Wells Brothers: Luke (2 page)

Dog, the traitor, bounded over to sit
at her feet with his tongue lolling out and an eager look on his hairy face. 
When Mikki gave him a pat on the head, he almost dissolved into a puddle.

Still perplexed, Luke asked, “What
do you know about old mansions?”

“I’m not here to fix it up, I’m
here to help her check everything out and get things packed up.”

“Packed up?”  Luke moved further
into the kitchen.  “What do you know about packing antiques?”

Mikki eyed him for several
seconds.

Luke eyed her right back.  Sheesh,
he’d thought he’d have the mansion to himself for the week, now he had this irritating
redhead coming and going.

At least, he hoped she’d be coming
and going.  Unease trickled down his spine.  “You’re staying in town?”

“Nope.”  A small smile played
around her lips.

That unease just spread further. 
“You’re heading back to the city every day?”

The smile widened.  “Nope.”

Oh, surely not.  “Then…?”

“Roomie!”  She practically beamed,
those green eyes dancing.

Ah Jesus, it was worse than he’d
thought.  “You’re staying
here
?”

“Yep.”

“In the mansion?”

“No, in a tent.”

“Really?”

“No.”  Amused, Mikki took a sip
from the mug.  “Why, Luke, you don’t look happy to be sharing this house with
me.”

That was putting it mildly.  Especially
when another suspicion reared its head, making his eyes narrow.  “You’re not
here to sabotage me, are you?”

Her amusement vanished.  “What?”

“Luke!  Sweetie!”

Luke looked down as a thin,
sprightly woman in her fifties came up beside him from the hallway, her hand
patting his back.  “Mrs Arkwell.”

“Call me Elspeth, dear, everyone
does.  Now, isn’t this just simply wonderful?”  She beamed up at him.

Luke wouldn’t have called it that.

“All three of us here for the
week!”

Shit.  His worse fears.

“Ah…Mrs Arkwell.”  At her raised
eyebrow, he cleared his throat.  “Elspeth.”  He sought for the politest way to
put it.  “What a surprise.”

“Isn’t it?”  She beamed.  “I knew
you’d be pleased.”

Definitely not the way he’d put
it.  Luke glanced across at Mikki to find her smiling widely.

“We’ll be company for each other,”
Elspeth continued blithely.  “Not that we’ll get in each other’s ways, of
course.”

“Uh huh.”

“You’ll be outside doing your
thing, and we’ll be inside with the packers and dealers and valuers doing our
thing.”  Moving past him, Elspeth crossed to the ‘fridge.  “Drink?”

“No thanks.  I had a flask in the
ute.”  Sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans, Luke’s gaze travelled
between Elspeth and Mikki.

Elspeth might not be aware of his
less-than-eager response, but Mikki had caught on quickly.  She was now
watching him with a slightly puzzled air.  Even as he studied her, he saw her
angle her head, those lush lips purse, her eyes widen and then her eyebrows
arch up.  Wondering what on earth she was thinking, he observed the amazement
cross her face, then understanding, and could only arch his own eyebrows in
turn as Mikki slowly shook her head at him.

What the hell was she thinking?

“Now, Luke.”  Elspeth dragged his
attention back to her as she poured a glass of some kind of juice.  “I know you
probably expected to be alone out here, but I need things to get done.  Your
Dad is starting in a month and there’s a lot I have to do.  We have to do,” she
amended, shooting Mikki a smile.  “I want this place empty when your Dad starts
renovating.  But I need things to be sorted, and for that sorting to happen I
want to check things out, get the paintings down, the furniture looked at and
taken away for repairs.  I need expert people to come in and do what they need
to do.  But first of all, Mikki and I are going to properly explore this
mansion and take stock of what we have.”

“Uh huh.”  Luke gave a small,
mental sigh.  At least he’d be mostly outside.

“We can have our meals together,
catch up and discuss the garden plans.”  Elspeth nodded enthusiastically.  “Any
problems we can discuss straight away.  That’ll save time.”

Oh boy.  Luke rubbed his brow,
caught Mikki’s amused expression and slid his hand into his hair to give it a
quick rub.  “Yes, it will.”

“Excellent.  You’ll have as much free
reign here as though we hadn’t come.  Feel free to look around inside and
outside, get the feel for the place, what it was, the past, the atmosphere. 
Use today to just absorb it all.”  Elspeth drank several mouthfuls of juice
while walking to the back door.  “Mikki, show Luke the liveable parts, okay? 
Show him his room, too.”

Luke watched Elspeth disappear out
into what still had the remnants of a cobbled courtyard before switching his
attention to Mikki, to find her rinsing out her mug and placing it on the
draining board before swinging to face him while drying her hands on a tea
towel.

“I’m afraid we’re relegated to
sleeping in the servants’ quarters.”  Draping the tea towel over the back of a
chair, she started towards him.  “Aunty had stretchers brought out.”  She ran a
critical eye over him as she drew up beside him.  “Your feet might hang over
the end, but it’s all we could get up here for now.”

Luke was no dainty bloke.  “I can
sleep anywhere.  If it’s too uncomfortable, I’ll just put the mattress on the
floor.”

“Okay.”  Without further ado, she
swept past him, leaving a faint trail of flowery perfume.

Luke couldn’t help but take a
sniff.  Nice.

Bounding past him, Dog almost
knocked him arse over tit as he barrelled eagerly after Mikki.  Bloody traitor.

Following her
,
Luke
couldn’t help but watch the sway of her hips as she walked down the bleak
hallway.  The hem of the untucked shirt swung happily against the bottom of her
rounded backside.

“Here you go.”  Stopping, she turned
to face him while gesturing to a door.  “It’s a little bleak but the servants
lived like that.  The barest necessities.”

Moving up to the doorway, Luke was
about to enter only to stop when Mikki’s arm shot out in front of him, her hand
slapping flat against the dingy doorframe to block his way.

Surprised, he glanced down.  “What?”

“Regardless of the fact that you can’t
let go of the past, Luke, I’m not here to sabotage you.”

Ah, that explained the myriad of expressions
that had flitted across her pretty face back in the kitchen. “Is that a fact?”

“Yes, it is.”

Hands still in his pockets, he
jingled some small change.  “You did it before, you can do it again.”

Her expression changed to
exasperation.  “Once.  Just once.  And it wasn’t sabotage.”

“You accused me of daylight
robbery.”

“That was a mistake.  I
apologised.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“You made me beg you to do that landscaping
for Gran!”

Oh yeah, and he still loved the
memory.  “I was going to do the job, you called me a thieving hound and lost me
the job, conning your Grandmother into giving it to your boyfriend.”

“Ex-boyfriend.  And besides, it was
his brother-in-law.”

“Don’t give a crap who it was, you
cost me the job.”  Leaning one shoulder against the wall, he surveyed her
lazily, enjoying the pink tinge in her cheeks.

“You got it back-”

“Because he buggered up the job
and your Grandmother wanted me to come in and fix it.”

Folding her arms, she sighed. 
“How long are you going to hold that against me?”

“Let’s just say I don’t trust
you.”

Mikki blinked.  “You don’t?”  She
actually looked hurt.

Her reaction surprised him, but
before he could even think of a reply that wouldn’t sound cruel - like ‘no’ -
she shrugged suddenly, dropping her arm.  “You don’t really know me anyway.”

“Well…”

“No worries.”  She smiled
suddenly, eyes sparkling with humour.  “We’ll have a whole week to share and
care.  Won’t that be nice?”

“Oh yeah,” he said dryly.  “Really
nice.”

“Anyway, you should feel privileged.”

“Is that right?”

“Aunt Elspeth would never invite
someone to stay here unless she trusted him.”

“Your aunt doesn’t know me that
well.”

“Your reputation.”

“I might be a great landscaper-”

“And modest, too.”  Placing one
hand above those big boobs, Mikki fluttered her eyelashes.  “Don’t forget
modest.”

Ignoring that, Luke continued,
“But I might be a prick of a bloke for all she knows.”

“Prick enough to make someone
beg?”  Her mouth opened in a small ‘oh’ of realisation.  “
Now
I see what
you mean.”

“This is going to be a long week.”

Before Mikki could give a
smart-arsed retort, Elspeth’s voice calling her name came from the direction of
the kitchen.

“Saved by the proverbial bell.”  Mikki
winked - actually
winked
- and walked back down the corridor, tossing
over her shoulder as she did so, “Bathroom on the left, definitely nothing
fancy.  Aunt and I are sharing the room on the other side of the hall.  If you
need anything, let me know.”

Shaking his head, Luke swivelled
around to watch her.  The woman had a happy bounce in her step that set that
curly ponytail swinging jauntily.  Not to mention those hips swaying.

Glancing down, he noticed Dog
watching her go with his tail drooping.  “This is going to be a
really
long week.”

With a shake of his head, Luke
walked into the bedroom and stopped dead.  Wow, she wasn’t kidding about the
servants’ quarters not being much.  A small room holding a dilapidated chest of
drawers, a gloomy picture of a bleak landscape, and a spindly chair.  In the
corner was a stretcher neatly made up with sheets, blankets and a pillow.

“Now this is the height of life,”
he told Dog.  “Looks like I won’t need the sleeping bag after all.”

Dog panted.

His mobile peeled out the tune
‘Bad to the Bone’.  Pulling out the phone, he placed it to his ear.  “Hey,
Aaron.”

“You arrived?”  His older
brother’s deep voice asked.

“Yep.  And guess what?”

“You’re not alone.”

“How did you know?”

“Just did.”

“Did you know those two sheilas were
coming here as well?”

“Elspeth approached me the other
day about installing security cameras and alarms out at the mansion when it was
finished.”

“This is turning into a family
affair.”  Luke shook his head.  “Forget that.  Man, you could have told me.”

“Could have.  Didn’t.”

“Is this torture time for me?”

There was no reply, but Luke could
just picture that faint smile on Aaron’s face.

“Let me tell you, if Mikki thinks
I’m going to be carting heavy boxes and shit around for them, she has another
think coming.”  Annoyance flickering once more, he scowled at the wall.  “I’m
here to plan the gardens, not shift heavy house stuff.”

“She won’t expect that.”

“You sound so sure.  How can you
be so sure?”

“Because she’s not like that.”

“How would you know?”  At the silence
that greeted this, Luke rolled his eyes.  “Oh, right.  Top security level
clearance only.”

“Not quite.”  The quiet amusement
was more than evident.

“Anyway, like I said, I’m not
going to be her fetch-and-carry boy.”

“You’re really disturbed by her
presence.”

“Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting
company.”

“Elspeth and Mikki are all right.”

“Elspeth is, Mikki is a whole
other ball game.”

“You don’t know her that well to
have such animosity.”

“Prior experience.”

“One experience.  That and the
fact she doesn’t fall for your charms.”

Luke grinned.  “You think I have
charm?”

“I think you’re an idiot.”

Nothing new there.  “So, you’re
worried about me?  Is that why you rang?  To check on your baby brother?”

“Blue’s the baby brother.  You’re
the middle child.”

“I have middle child syndrome.”

“You have something all right.”

Luke grinned.

“Just wanted to check that you
arrived safely,” Aaron drawled.

“That is so sweet.”  Luke made
kissy sounds.

Aaron changed gears.  “The mansion
is isolated.”

“Very.  It’s really cool.”  Luke
deliberated a second.  “In a creepy way.”

“Scared?”  Faint amusement echoed
down the phone.

“Shit, no.  I mean it’s falling
apart.”

“Dad says it’s redeemable.”

“Well, it is.  It’s just going to
need a lot of work.”

“You don’t say.”

“You’re an arsehole, Aaron.”

“There’s that charm you’re so
proud of.  And you wonder how Mikki can resist it.”

Luke gave him the middle finger
even though his brother couldn’t see it.

“Juvenile, Luke, very juvenile.”

Not at all surprised that Aaron
knew what he was doing, Luke nudged Dog with his foot.  “Is there anything
else?”

“Am I cramping your style?”

“You’re cramping my arse.”

Silence was the answer.

Able to picture his unflappable brother
sitting in his office, all neat and tidy, Luke gave Dog another gentle nudge. 
Dog rolled over, his eyes going all dreamy as Luke rubbed his booted foot
lightly along his exposed belly.

“Keep an eye on the women,” Aaron
said unexpectedly.

“What?”

“Isolated mansion, Luke.  Middle
of nowhere.  Two women alone.”

“Excuse me.  I’m here.”

“That’s why I’m asking you to keep
an eye on them.”

It was such an odd request - not
to keep an eye on the women, that was a given for a Wells man whether he
particularly liked them or not - but the fact that his brother would actually
ask him.  “What’s going on?”

“As of yet, nothing.”