The Wells Brothers: Luke (30 page)

“After today, I knew I had to find
the journal fast, so I used the passageway to get into the house,” Anna
continued.  “I didn’t have to go far, it was right on the newel post.  So I
took it.”

“Why’d you take Mikki?”  Luke rubbed
Mikki’s shoulder, needing to feel her after his shock and fear when he’d
discovered her missing.

Anna sucked in a harsh breath.  “That
wasn’t in the plan.  I heard voices, I hurried for the door but then I knocked
into something in the dark and dropped the journal.  I barely made it through
the door and closed it before you two,” she jerked her head at Luke and Mikki,
“came into the room.”

“Why’d you take Mikki?” he
repeated.

At first he didn’t think Anna
would answer, her gaze sliding down to the table, but then she muttered
sullenly, “She opened the door.  I acted on instinct.  She still didn’t know
who I was, but I couldn’t risk her rousing everyone in the mansion, I had no
choice but to take her.”

Mikki shifted slightly, Luke
glancing down to check she was okay.  Her shaking had stopped awhile ago, now
she was focussed on Anna, her expression a mix of sympathy and curiosity.

Reassured that she was okay, he
returned his attention to Anna.

“I was going to lock the trap door
after me, leave her in the tunnel.  She’d have found her way out by going back
to the mansion, but I’d be gone by then.”  Anna shook her head.  “But you
couldn’t stay down, could you?  And you bit my bloody leg!”

“Yeah, well you threw a knife at
me and tried to crush my hand.”  Mikki looked a little sheepish.  “Hope you had
your shots.”

Red rose in Anna’s cheeks, her
eyes narrowing, but Ryan’s position behind her chair prevented her from
moving.  It didn’t prevent her from cursing.  “This is all your fault, you
interfering bitch!”

“Watch your mouth,” Luke growled.

Aaron didn’t flinch.  “How is it
Mikki’s fault?”

“She found out and she was going
to tell everyone!”

“I swear, I didn’t know,” Mikki
replied.  “Why would you think I knew?”

“You found Wilford’s journal, you
figured it out.”

“I didn’t-”

“You did!”  There was desperate
despair in Anna’s voice.  “Wally told me!”

Mikki was bewildered.  “How did he
know?”

“You told him in the supermarket!”

Mikki blinked, then her face
cleared.  “I only said that to get a reaction from Ryan.”

Everyone looked at her.

“What?”  She shrugged guiltily. 
“It was a joke.  He doesn’t - you know - show much, so I kind of said what I
did to stir him up.  Didn’t work,” she added, as Ryan just looked at her.

 There was silence in the big
kitchen for several seconds.  In the distance came the sound of sirens, but
Anna didn’t seem to notice.  Her face was white, almost bloodless, as she
stared at Mikki.  “You lied?  I don’t believe it!”

“I’m sorry, Anna, I didn’t have a
clue who the secret lover was until you told us just now.”

“
You
know.”  Anna’s gaze
switched to Aaron almost desperately.  “You told me you knew.”

Aaron regarded her calmly.

“You knew she was in the suicide’s
grave, you said so!”

“When you got up, you looked at
the grave and flinched.  It wasn’t hard to guess once you started telling us
the story.”

Realising she’d been duped into
telling the truth, Anna tried to lunge upwards, only to have Ryan keep her in
place against the heavy table by the simple process of leaning against the
chair.

It was a little freaky to watch
Anna go ape-shit, swearing and screaming at Aaron, “I’ll deny everything! 
Nothing I said means anything!  I’ll deny it all!”

Aaron simply unhooked a tiny
microphone from his shirt, detached it from a wire running previously unnoticed
beneath his shirt, and laid it on the table.  A quick pull from somewhere
behind him and he set a tiny recorder beside the microphone.

Luke just shook his head in
amazement.  His brother had recorded the whole confession.

Shaking with fury, eyes wide with
despair, Anna looked from Aaron to Mikki.  “I didn’t do anything wrong.  You
can’t pin anything on me.”

“That’s for the police to decide,”
Aaron replied easily.  “There is the case of breaking and entering, stealing
something not belonging to you, then abducting Mikki while threatening her with
a knife.”

Anna’s expression was a little
wild.  “I wasn’t going to kill her, I swear!  I was just trying to keep my
promise to Dad, to protect my family name!  When this comes out, it’ll ruin
us!”

“It was a long time ago, dear,”
Elspeth said sympathetically.

“You don’t know!  How could you?  
We were here before the Willocks ever came, we’re the oldest family in town, we
have a position here.”

And yet, Luke thought, no one
mentioned them, the museum focussed mostly on the Willock mansion and family,
their wealth, their prestige.  Only a little was mentioned of the other
families.  It would seem Anna’s were no longer the wealthy, important family
they had been once.  Or maybe they’d only been the wealthy family until the far
wealthier Willock’s had arrived.  Fortunes came and went depending on so many
circumstances.

“I’m trapped here, you see,” Anna
said almost piteously.  “Trapped here to protect our name while the rest of the
family go about their lives.”

They all looked at her, the beautiful
blonde woman who really believed she carried the weight of her family’s name on
her shoulders.  Perhaps she did, when the story got out there would be a minor
scandal, maybe some newspaper reports, but it would die down.  There was always
more bad news to rise up and overtake yesterdays news.  But it was a small
town, it wouldn’t be forgotten by the original inhabitants.

“You can leave,” Mikki suggested
quietly.  “You said you were trapped here.  In a way, this frees you.”

Anna looked at her like she’d lost
her mind.  “You don’t understand.  How could you?  This is my town, my home.  I
have to stay here.”

“There’s no secret to protect
now.”

Anna didn’t respond, clamping her
mouth shut, looking away.

When it became obvious that she
wasn’t going to talk anymore, Luke got to his feet, taking Mikki with him. 
Reaching down, he slid his hand beneath Elspeth’s elbow and urged her up.  “I
think we’ll wait outside.”

Aaron nodded.  Ryan stood silent,
body braced against the chair, hands resting easily on the back of it as he stood
guard.

Luke ushered both women out,
closing the kitchen door behind him.  “Let’s go and wait for the cops on the
veranda,” he said.  “I, for one, could do with some fresh air.”

On the veranda they sat on the top
step, Luke between them, his arms around both their shoulders.  Mikki leaned
her head on his shoulder with a sigh, Elspeth resting her chin in her hand and
her elbow on one drawn up knee.

“This is unbelievable,” Elspeth
muttered.  “Wilford’s lover was murdered by her own husband, and his son and
granddaughter kept it a secret all this time.”

“Until me.” Mikki sighed.

Luke pressed a kiss to her
temple.  “It’s no one’s fault, Red.  Anna’s a bit loopy, just listen to her.”

“Maybe the strain of keeping the
secret has been too much.”

“You think?”

Mikki tipped her face up to his,
her expression a little sad.  “If I hadn’t tried to stir Ryan up-”

“No,” Luke said firmly.  “None of
that.  What happened was a tragedy, but it didn’t have to come to this,
either.  Jesus, Red, she threw a knife at you.”  He pressed another kiss to her
temple.  “She could have decided to kill you.”

“She held it to my throat,” Mikki
said reflectively.  “But man, she was a poor thrower.”

He shuddered, and this time it was
she who hugged him comfortingly.

“Thank God you were okay.”  Leaning
across Luke, Elspeth kissed her cheek.

As they watched blue and red
flashing lights come up the main road, the strobing cutting through the heavy
foliage of the bushes, Mikki mused, “Anna must have managed to hit Ryan.”

“Hmmm?”  Luke leaned his cheek on
her head.

“He had a bit of a split lip.”

“Oh.”  Luke grinned a little
sheepishly.  “Yeah.”

Elspeth gave him an incredulous
look.  “Luke!”

“What?” Mikki demanded.

“Luke hit Ryan.”

It was Mikki’s turn to look
incredulously at him.  “Why?”

Luke shrugged.  “We were searching
the place for you when I noticed the open door in the wall.  I was ready to
charge into it but Ryan tried to stop me, said he had to go first in case of
danger, but hell, Red, I wasn’t going to just sit and wait to get to you.  He grabbed
me, I hit him.”

“And then,” Elspeth said with
relish, “Luke ran into the tunnel to your rescue.  Aaron ran after him, and
Ryan ran outside to see if he could spot you. In hindsight, it was all very
dashing and brave of them, running to your rescue without knowing how many had
taken you, or what they’d face.”

Luke scowled. “Nothing dashing
about it, Elspeth.  I’d go down to hell and face the Devil himself if I had to,
to find my woman.”

Elspeth sighed.  “How romantic.”

“Getting my arse singed in the
flames isn’t romantic, but I’d do it for Red.”  He paused.  “For you, too.”

The sirens of two cop cars blared
loudly, the lights flashing colour across Elspeth’s face as they tore up the
driveway.  She smiled.  “But I bet you’d be greeting me a whole lot differently.”

He smiled.  “You’re her aunt. 
She’s my woman.  I’d come for you both, but yeah, I probably wouldn’t do to you
what I plan to do to Mikki.”

Mikki blushed, but Elspeth just
laughed.  Then she stood up as the cop cars came to a halt before the steps,
going down to meet them, gracious as ever but all business.

“Luke?”

He looked down at Mikki, brushed
his thumb across her cheek.  “Yeah, Red?”

“Thank you.”

The words were simple, but he
could see the emotion in her eyes.  “You’re very welcome, Red.  Always and
forever.”  He brushed his lips across hers.  “Never doubt that I’ll always come
for you, no matter who I have to get through.”

As the cops came up the steps, he
stood, bringing her up with him to face a night that wasn’t over yet.

But he kept her tucked into his
side, right where she belonged.

Epilogue

The roar of race cars filled the
air, dust filtering through the halo of the high-wattage lights on the tall
poles that shone brilliantly over the race track.

At the snack shed, Luke put his
order in to the server and paid, waited while Jason did the same.  Then they
waited, standing to one side.

“Hear tell,” Jason commented,
“that some local yobbo met you at the mansion and asked for a job.”

“Yep.”

“Hear tell that he had a run-in
with your fist.”

“Yep.”  Luke felt immensely
satisfied.  “Twice.”

“Apparently, before he could
report a certain landscaper to the law, Aaron had a quiet word with him.”

“Yep.”  Whistling tunelessly, Luke
stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Turns out the yobbo has a past he
doesn’t want made public.”

“Aaron reckons everyone has a
past.”

“He’s paranoid.”

“In the yobbo’s case, correct.”

“So you got your revenge on the
bastard that dumped Duchess on the side of the road.”  Jason frowned.  “Good
job.”

“Aaron had Ryan do a scout around,
he saw the car, got the details, and did some digging around.  Apparently the
bastard has been suspected of getting rid of strays around his place.  Duchess,
it appeared, was one of them.”  Luke scowled.  “Bastard got what he deserved.”

“Did you tell Mikki?”

“Yep.”  Luke’s scowl turned into a
grin.  “She rewarded me most satisfactorily.”

“Did she reward Aaron and Ryan?”

“Not the way she did me.  They got
a cake, I got…”  Luke waggled his eyebrows.

“Let’s not go there.”

The server called out to them and
they collected their food.

Bag of hot food in one hand, the
Coke and Diet Coke in his other hand, Luke walked back towards where their cars
were parked overlooking the local speedway, Jason beside him with his own food
and two takeaway mugs of hot coffee.

“Uncle Harris said the restoration
is doing well,” Jason commented.  “Luckily the police were finished with the
area long before he started.”

“Guess a crime scene, no matter
how old, needs to be looked at.”  Luke squinted into the dimmer light at the
parked cars some distance away.  “Cripes, is that Mikki hanging onto the fence
screaming at the drivers again?”

Jason glanced over, laughing.  “It
would appear so.  She’s really getting into the racing.”

“Speedway only,” Luke corrected.
“I can’t get her to watch racing on the TV, she always leaves the room and
shuts the door, says the sight and sound drives her mad.  She takes Duchess, leaves
me and Dog to watch the man’s sport alone.”  He shook his head fondly.  “But
bring her to the speedway and she’s yelling along with everyone else, if not
more so.”

Jason laughed.

They continued in silence for
several seconds before his cousin stated, “Izzy and Mikki have been talking”

“Oh no.” Luke groaned.  “About Adelaide?  Mikki’s really set on several ghost tours in Adelaide.  She’s determined we’re
going there on our honeymoon.”

“So she
does
wear the pants
in the family.”

“Not bloody likely.  I’m the man
of the house.  I agreed only as long as we went together to the Adelaide races while we’re there.”  At Jason’s smirk, he said, “Up yours.”

“Lovely.  However, Mikki’s
theory…”

“This should be good.  Give it to
me.”

“She reckons what happened at the
mansion was proof there are ghosts there.”

“Oh, what a big surprise.  Oh
please, stop me from fainting with shock.”

“Wait, there’s more.”

“With her there always is.”  Luke
smiled, his gaze fastened on the generously curved figure of his fiancée as she
hung onto the wire yelling both encouraging words to her chosen race car driver
and abuse at the other drivers.  God, he loved her.  He didn’t care that they
hadn’t been going out long before getting that ring on her finger and moving
her into his home - theirs, now - he knew she was meant for him, they were
meant to be together.  Good thing she felt the same way, made things easier,
though he’d been prepared to pursue and persuade her for as long as it took to
bind her to him.

“First off, she thinks the ghost
of Anna’s grandmother tripped Anna up.”

Luke rolled his eyes.

“Get this.  She saw Anna suddenly
fall, the journal and torch went flying.  She said there was nothing there to
trip Anna up in the first place.”

“It was dark and the suicide grave
has a small headstone.  Hell, Mikki admitted she tripped and fell over.  You
telling me that was a ghost, too?”

“Hey, I’m just saying what she’s
saying.”

“That woman has a wild
imagination.” 
Even in bed
.  Luke grinned a little wolfishly. 
Especially
in bed.

“And then,” Jason continued as
they strode along, “there was the thing Anna bumped into in that big main room
on her way to the hidden door.”

“So?”

“Oh, you’re going to love this.”

When Jason said nothing further,
Luke looked at him.  “Spit it out, mate, I’m not getting any younger.”

“The room had not one stick of
furniture in it.”

Luke looked blankly at him.

“Not
one
stick.”  Jason
glanced at him.  “It was an empty room, there was nothing Anna could bump into,
and yet she hit something hard enough to drop the journal.  Also, Mikki swears
Anna shut the hidden door but it was wide open when you found it.  What do you
make of that?”

Well, shit
… Thinking hard, Luke
stopped walking.  The door could have swung open, Anna probably didn’t shut it
securely in her haste, so no big mystery there.  He could explain that away. 
But there had been nothing in that room, no way Anna could have bumped into
anything.  No way. 

“Got you thinking, hey?” Jason
drawled.

A tiny, fleeting chill went down
Luke’s spine before he shook his head.  “Don’t worry, there’s a perfectly good
explanation.”

“Uh huh.”

“Don’t tell me you believe in
ghosts.”

“I’m on the fence with that one.”

“Are you serious?”  Luke stared at
his cousin.

“Just keeping an open mind.”

“I knew there was a reason half
your brains fell out.  But seriously?  Ghosts?”

His cousin shrugged, unconcerned
what Luke thought of his unexpected announcement.

Closing the distance to the cars,
Luke’s thoughts were diverted by Mikki catching sight of him and greeting him
with that brilliant smile, her eyes sparkling, radiating joy of life.

“I won!” she announced
triumphantly.

“I think that was the driver.” 
Bending, he kissed her temple before handing her the bottle of icy cold Diet
Coke.

She twisted the lid off, took a
long pull at it before lowering it enough to kiss his cheek.  “Don’t care.  I
picked the car and it won!  You owe me.”

Placing the bag on the bonnet of
the ute, Luke took out a bucket of hot chips and handed it to her before
retrieving his own.  “I’m going to seriously regret this, aren’t I?”  Like hell
he was, he was looking forward to it.

“What did you bet?” Izzy asked.

“My body.  I’m scared.”

She laughed while Jason’s eyes
twinkled as he took a cautious mouthful of hot coffee.

Mikki patted Luke’s bum before
giving one cheek a good squeeze.  “I promise to be careful not to break
anything,” she said solemnly.

“That would be appreciated.” 
Placing his mouth to her ear, he whispered fervently, “But feel free to fondle,
lick and suck whatever you want.”

She tsked.  “Lukey-boy, this is my
prize.  You’re my prize.  I’ll handle you any way
I
want.”  She winked. 
“And you’ll just lie back and take it and you, my man, will like it.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh yeah, it’s so.”

Jason gestured with his hand and
made a ‘cracking’ sound.  “Whipped.”

Before Luke could retort, the cars
engines revving filled the air and Mikki and Izzy were back at the fence.

“Whoo hoo!”  Mikki practically
danced on the spot, shoving a chip into her mouth before waving
enthusiastically.  “Number 8!  Number 8!  Yeah!”

Laughing, Jason and Luke moved up
each side of their women, Jason hooking his thumb into the back of Izzy’s
jeans.

As Luke slid his arm around her
waist and plucked a hot chip out of her bucket, Mikki looked up at him and
smiled.  “I love you.”

“Yup,” he replied.

“I’m going to make you scream
tonight.”

“God, I know you will, Red,” he
replied with feeling.  At just the thought of what his adventurous little Red
could do to him, had done to him many times, heat was already curling through
his loins.

Laughing, she cupped his cheek,
pulled him down for a deep, drugging kiss that had his toes curling in his
sneakers.  She kissed him with a passion that touched him down to his soul,
down to his heart, and deep down to his own love.

God, he loved her so much. 
Opening his eyes, he looked down at her as she pulled back slightly.  Her eyes
sparkled with love, with laughter, with life.

“Want to bet on this race?” she
asked.

“Only if you’re the prize.”

She winked.  “Imagine if I win
your body twice.”

“Red,” he said huskily, “you
already have both my heart and my body.”

Her face softened, her hand
sliding down his cheek to rest on his chest.

“Yes!”  Izzy screamed.  “Number 8
is in the lead!”

“Whoo hoo!”  Swinging around,
Mikki pumped a fist into the air.  “Lukey-boy, you are so mine to ravish
tonight!”

He laughed, standing there
contentedly, watching the lead car - number 8 - roar around the track ahead of
the other cars.

Mikki might think she’d win him
again tonight, but he’d spoken the truth, she’d already won him heart, body
and
soul.

Looking at her, those wild red
curls pulled into a ponytail, her curvy body jumping up and down with glee, he
smiled.

He’d already won his prize.

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