The Wells Brothers: Luke (21 page)

Luke turned, caught her eye and
grinned.  Still talking on the mobile, he pulled the sunglasses down his nose
so he could peer at her over the tops.  He looked roguish, so damned bad-boy
handsome, then he waggled his eyebrows and looked up at the tower.

The man had a one track mind.  She
frowned at him.  Geez, it was only three o’clock, no way was she going up to
the tower while Elspeth was puttering around.

“Tonight,” she mouthed.

He jerked his thumb at the back of
the ute.

Holding back the laughter, she
shook her head.

With an exaggerated slump of his
shoulders, he turned back to the laptop.

Drongo.  Grinning, she tuned back
to the journal.  Man, one minute he could have her all hot and bothered, the next
flustered, then he could ease her with a joke, a laugh, a look, or like now,
sexily suggestive but humorous with it.  Life with him would never be dull.

Not that she was planning on life
with Luke.  Was she?  She gazed unseeingly at the journal.  No, it was way too
early in the relationship to be thinking thoughts like that, way too early.

Toes curling in her sneakers,
Mikki shook her head. 
Focus on the here and now, and near future.  See what
it brings, Mik, see what it brings
. 
Don’t jump the gun.  This is new,
just enjoy it and go with the flow, see where it leads.

Time passed pleasantly, Bernard
Yorick arriving to collect the last of the trinkets they’d gathered up and
carefully packed into several large boxes, awaiting collection to catalogue,
clean, repair and return.  She’d never seen a man so ecstatic by old paintings,
furniture and trinkets.  He ran his fingertip lovingly over everything,
marvelling, spewing out information on almost every piece.  The man obviously
lived his love of antiques.  She wondered if his home resembled a museum.

The journal didn’t reveal any
clues to the woman’s identity, but it did show Wilford’s slow decline and
disinterest in the estate.  One minute he was writing about his lover in-between
the usual business of day-to-day life on a regular basis, then there was a miss
of several months, and from there it was only business.  That petered out
pretty quickly until finally there were only blank pages left.

Closing the journal, she stared
thoughtfully at the mouldy cover.  It would seem that his decline started not
long after his affair ended.  Maybe he really had loved the woman but she
didn’t return it.  Maybe she’d moved onto greener pastures.  It happened
regardless of the era.

Slipping the journal into the
plastic bag, she went in search of her aunt to see what she wanted done with
it.

Pulling a roast out of the stove,
the heavenly aroma filling the big old kitchen, Elspeth shrugged.  “I’m not
really interested in it, dear, but Yorick thinks it would be worth restoring
and placing in a glass case so people could see it in the hallway.  A reminder
of days-gone-by.”

“I think it’s a good idea.”  Mikki
balanced the plastic bag on the edge of the table.  “You could place the glass
case beneath the photos of Wilford in his Army uniform from both World Wars.”

Elspeth thought for a moment.  “Bernard
found a small wooden box with medals in it; we can place those with the
journal.”

“I saw a nice photo of his sister
in her Army Nurse uniform at the library.  Maybe we can see if we can get the
original and have it blown up, place it beside Wilford’s photo.”

Turning the roast, Elspeth slid
the baking tray back into the big oven.  “Didn’t I tell you?  While packing,
Bernard came across some photo albums.”

Damn, she wished she’d known,
she’d have loved to look at the photos.

Elspeth must have read her
expression.  “Sorry, Mik, I didn’t think to call you.  Never mind, the photos
were quite damaged from mildew and stuff, but he’s going to see what he can get
restored and then you can see them properly.”

“I wonder if the woman he was
having an affair with was among the photos?”

“If she was, it would be hard to
know, wouldn’t it?  We don’t know who she was or even what she looked like.” 
Elspeth crossed to the bench where she kept the crockery under a linen cloth. 
“We’ll be eating shortly.  I hate to sound like a nagging old aunt, but wash
your hands.  You’ve been handling that dreadfully smelly journal and dear, I
hate to say this, but you’re smelling a little icky from it.”

Mikki grinned.  “Just a little?”

“I get whiffs of journal
fragrance.”

“I think that might be pee.”

“I agree.”  With a shudder,
Elspeth pointed at the kitchen door.  “In which case I won’t have a piddly-smelling
girl sitting at my table.  Go shower and change.”

Snapping her a sharp salute, Mikki
left the kitchen.

She’d expected dinner to be maybe
a little awkward, especially knowing that she and Luke were planning a
rendezvous later that night in the tower, but the conversation was easy,
ranging from the mansion and plans, to Luke’s family, to Mikki’s various
siblings and their kids, and lightly touching on Elspeth’s past.  Elspeth
didn’t like to divulge much about her life or past, a little quirk of hers, but
Luke was very open.  Mikki knew his mother had died young from an illness, but
she now had a picture of him and his brothers being brought up by his father in
a strict, but loving, household.  Mr Wells had never remarried and still
continued to live in the big old house, his sister Lora living with him and
taking care of the house, with his sons and nephew regularly dropping by to
visit and Blue staying with him when on leave.

Duchess and Dog playing together
provided entertainment, and by the time dinner was finished, everything cleaned
up and Luke heading for the shower, she felt at peace.

Right up until Luke slapped her on
the bum as he passed, growling in her ear as he did so, “Later, Red.”

That had her belly dipping.

Geez, the man was potent.  One
flash of that bad-boy grin and she was cooking internally.

Dog followed him, giving her big
eyes, so she patted his head.  His tongue fell out of his mouth, he got a
dreamy look and wandered happily out behind Luke.

Elspeth decided to head for bed
early with a book, taking the kitten with her.  “Be careful when you come to
bed,” she said.  “I’m letting Duchess out of her bedroom cage to sleep with
us.”

Mobile jangling on the kitchen
bench, Mikki nodded as she reached for it.

“How’s it going up there?” Izzy’s
voice sounded in her ear.

“Fine.  Really interesting,
actually.”

“You and Luke haven’t killed each
other yet?”

“Nope.”

“I find that a little hard to
believe.  It must be interesting, you two striking sparks off each other.”

“It’s been different, all right.” 
Mikki hesitated.

Izzy picked up on it immediately. 
“What’s happened?  Cripes, you’re not planning on doing away with him and
burying him in that old graveyard, are you?  Because let me give you the tip,
Aaron will find him and then you’ll be in deep doo-doo.”

“I’m not planning on doing away
with him.”  Mikki did a mental eye roll.  “In fact…”

When the silence dragged on, Izzy
prompted, “In fact…?”

“Um…”  Geez, this was a little
awkward to explain.  “He… I mean we-”

“Mik!”
  Izzy almost
screeched it.  “Are you and Luke
doing it
?”

That was one way to get it out in
the open.  “Yeah.”

“Tell me.  Tell me all.  When did
it happen?”

“Hells bells, Iz, I’m not going to
give you every detail!”

“No, because that would be
ewww
,
my ears would bleed.  I meant, when did it happen as in when did you realise?”

“After we came here.”

“Well, of course.  Before that you
just wanted to boot his arse.”  A deep voice sounded in the background followed
by laughter.  “Jason said you and every other person on the planet.”

“Don’t worry, that urge still
comes over me.”  Filling a glass with water, Mikki gazed out the kitchen window
into the darkness beyond.  “It kind of just happened.  I can’t explain it.  I
certainly never expected it.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“Never?”  There was something odd
in Izzy’s tone.

Mikki frowned.  “You did?”

She could almost see her best
friend shrug.  “You two struck sparks off each other, usually that kind of
thing ends in attraction or…but the ‘or’ doesn’t count with you two.”

“I’m not getting it. What’s the
‘or’?”

“Or you grow to dislike each
other.  Oh, there’s another ‘or’ - you just remain friends.”

“So you realise you haven’t given
me an answer as to why you expected me and him to happen.”

“Because you two are perfect
together.”

Mikki blinked.

“And the spark between you two was
more than just needling each other. Any fool could see it.”  Another comment from
Jason, followed by Izzy retorting, “That’s because you’re a bloke, and blokes
don’t see anything in front of their faces.”  Another comment.  “Aw, you’re so
sweet.  Mikki, he just said he saw me.”

“I’d certainly hope so, he married
you.”

“Yep.”  Izzy sounded smug.  “So
anyway, you and Luke, huh?  What does Elspeth think?”

“She’s happy we’re getting on,”
Mikki answered carefully.

“Oh
ho
.  You think she
doesn’t realise you and Luke are fooling around?”

“It would be a little awkward,
don’t you think?”

“I think you’re fooling yourself
if you think she doesn’t suspect.  Woman’s sharp as a tack.”

“Possibly.  But I’m not going to
bring it up with her.”

“No need.  She knows.”

“Now that’s just a little icky.” 
Raising the glass to her lips, Mikki took a couple of sips, only to slowly
lower the glass. Was that a light in the bushes over the other side of the
gravel road that circled the mansion?

“Did you tell any of your
sisters?”

“I’m not about to send out a signal. 
No.”  She squinted, trying to see through the grime covering the window.

“Huh.  Well, what’s on the menu
tonight?  Missionary, doggy or oral?”  Izzy gave a shriek as Jason’s deep voice
sounded closer.  “Stop!  Jason, no!  Oh God!”  Izzy laughed.  “Gotta go!”  The
phone hung up.

Mikki had a good idea that Jason
was challenging Izzy to one of the three options Izzy had teasingly listed. 
Grinning, she flicked the mobile off and placed it on the kitchen counter.  Her
best friend had been the happiest she’d ever been since Jason had walked into
her life, and Mikki couldn’t be happier for her.

A flicker in the bushes, a small, dull
glow, had Mikki walking to the back door, opening it to step out into the
dilapidated courtyard to look towards the dark bushes.  The dull glow went out.

Was it a car light from the road flickering
through the bushes?  But no, wrong direction.  The nearest house was too far
away, so maybe it was someone out walking.  But at night?  Seemed odd.  Or
maybe it was a ghost.  She waited several more minutes, but when nothing
further happened she shrugged and went back inside, locking the door behind
her.

Now that she thought about it… She
walked down to the bedroom she shared with her aunt and carefully slipped inside
to find Duchess curled up on the pillow beside Elspeth.  She was already sound
asleep, the magazine she’d been reading lying flat on her chest.  Duchess
merely watched as Mikki carefully put the magazine away, the kitten giving a
yawn, one little paw stretching out before she tucked it back under her chest
and closed her eyes, her happy little purr filling the room.

Crossing to the box in the corner
that held various paraphernalia they used when hunting ghosts, Mikki took out
the EDI Meter and a torch and left the room, closing the door quietly behind
her.

Passing Luke’s door, she could hear
him moving around inside the room talking to Dog.  Moving further down the
hallway, she walked into the second hallway and out into the huge main room.  It
was bare now, stripped of all furniture and paintings as was the rest of the
house.  It really did look barren and bleak.

Crossing to the staircase, she
held up the EDI Meter, trying to find the spot where her breath had appeared to
frost, possibly indicating a supernatural presence.  Nothing showed, so she
moved from side to side, pausing now and again, keeping her gaze on the Meter. 
Step-by-step, side-to-side, she went up the steps, but nothing changed, which
was really disappointing.  At the top she checked the EDI Meter.  Nothing.

Walking across the landing, she
spotted the flashing red light of the
Full Spectrum POV Camcorder with the added bonus of night vision that Elspeth
had set up as soon as the last of the packing had been done and the workers
gone.  Turning, she checked to ensure the other camcorder on the opposite side of
the landing was flashing.

The quiet of the house was almost
eerie.  It creaked now and again, and she could almost imagine it was with
ghostly steps of former owners angry at their belongings being taken away, but
commonsense told her it was the old house settling.

Moving across to the window at the
end of the landing, she peered out towards the area where the chapel and
graveyards stood, but she had to crane her neck and even then the view wasn’t
good.  Nothing moved.  She’d get a much better view from the tower.

That reminded her… Anticipation
leaping inside her, she went down the staircase, remembering at the last second
not to bounce down them and make noise, but to go quietly.  The last thing she
wanted was to wake up Elspeth.

Okay, Elspeth wouldn’t care, as
far as she was concerned Mikki was an adult and could do as she wished, but she
still felt awkward.  Cripes, Elspeth had known her since she was a baby, had
changed her nappies and burped her, it’d be like having sex with a man in her
parent’s house -
eewww, do not go there, Mikki.
  She shuddered.