The Wells Brothers: Luke

by Angela Verdenius

  “If we don’t?”

  “Stop that.” He accompanied the stern words with a quick kiss to her brow. “We will. Now come on, let’s look around in here together.”

  She swallowed. “No. I’ll look here, you check out the other rooms. We need to find her.” At his searching gaze, she said, “I’m fine. Just a weak moment.”

  He nodded. “Understandable, she’s only a baby animal. Okay, I’ll just be next door and -” He stopped suddenly, holding up a hand, one finger pointing towards the old four-poster bed.

  Looking down, she saw Duchess’s little tail sticking out from under the rotting bedspread that hung to the floor. Thank God, they’d found her! Duchess moved further under the bed, her tail disappearing from sight.

  Moving quietly to the door, Luke closed it before moving across to the bed and going onto his hands and knees, lifting up the bedspread to call softly to Duchess.

  Mikki jumped when he suddenly lurched back, shock on his face. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Jesus.” He had a hand on his chest, lowering it with an astonished expression on his face. “I could swear…”

  “What?” Anxiously, she moved across to him, but he stopped her with a raised hand. “Luke, what? Is she all right?”

  He shook his head.

  Immediately her heart clenched. “No! What’s happened to her? Is she hurt?”

  “Settle down, Red, she’s fine. That’s not what I meant.” He took a deep breath. “Just stay there.” He lowered back onto his hands.

  Like hell she was staying there when he was freaked about something, besides, it was only little Duchess and if something had happened to her Mikki sure as hell wanted to get to her quickly.

  Dropping to her hands and knees opposite Luke, she lifted the bedspread at the same time he did, earning her a fleeting scowl from him which she ignored. Peering underneath, she caught a glimpse of Duchess at the head of the bed looking back at her bright-eyed, then her attention was caught by something behind the kitten peering back at them. Two somethings, in fact, and after a quick start she relaxed. “Is that all?”

  “Is that all?” Luke repeated incredulously. “I looked under the bed and there was something staring back at me.”

  “Yeah, I can see that looking at a reflection of yourself would be scary.”

  “How was I to know someone had parked a bloody mirror against the wall under the bed?”

  Mikki grinned. “Did you think it was your doppelganger under there?”

  “I don’t even know what a doppelganger is, nor do I want to.”

  “Poor Lukey-boy.”

  “Wipe that smirk off your face, Red, or I’ll do it for you.”

  That only made her laughing.

  “Later,” he promised with a delicious darkness that had her loins tingling in anticipation. “When there’s no one ready to burst into the room and interrupt us.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  “Bet your sweet little arse.” Dropping to his belly, he wiggled partially under the bed. “Now focus, we have a wild cat to catch.”

  The wild cat in question peered back at them out of wide, blue eyes and gave a tiny meow.

  “Poor baby,” Mikki cooed to the kitten, sliding under the bed shoulder-to-shoulder beside Luke. “Come on sweetie, come to mumma.”

  Luke made kissy sounds, which only made her giggle and earn her another scowl. “Lady, you are begging for a smacking.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she dared him.

  “You think I won’t keep it?”

  Anyone who knew a Wells man was more than aware of the fact that not one of them would ever lay a hand on a woman in punishment, so she made big eyes at him.

  Shaking his head, he rubbed his fingers on the grubby, worn carpet. “Come on kitty, come to Lukey. Come on, beautiful, I won’t hurt you.”

  “Is this how you cajoled all your previous girlfriends?” Mikki couldn’t help but ask. “I always wondered.”

  He glanced sideways, his eyes gleaming with suppressed amusement and a touch of sin. “I have better ways of cajoling, baby.” Then he yelped, all seduction forgotten as Duchess leaped on his hand and bit his finger. “Holy crap!”

  “Don’t be such a sook.” Quick as a flash, Mikki reached out and snagged the kitten’s scruff. “Yes!” Duchess gave a token wriggle then went limp as Mikki pulled her gently to her, giving her a little smooch between the soft little ears. “Aw, you cutie.”

  Luke gave his finger an exaggerated suck. “I think she hit an artery.”

  “You’re such a dick.”

  “Oh, keep talking sweet to me, Mikki.”

  “Idiot.”

  “You’re turning me on.”

  Grinning, she started wriggling backwards.

  Luke vanished back from beside her quickly, and she squeaked when his two big hands landed on her hips. “Here, Red, let me give you a hand.” She gasped as one big palm rubbed her derriere, slid between her thighs. “Oops, slipped.”

  Heat rushed through her, along with mortification. Cripes, she hoped she didn’t cream her panties enough for him to notice. “Luke, stop it!”

  Daringly, wickedly, he cupped her womanhood. “Stop shifting, baby, I’m trying to hold you.”

  “Not like that!”

  Duchess wiggled.

  Breathlessly, she started to move her arm back, holding the kitten firmly. “Here, take Duchess, you pervert, before she gets away.”

  “Why would she get away? Are you having trouble holding her?” Luke flexed his hand against Mikki’s womanhood.

  “Shit!”

  “Tsk. Mind your language, Red, you’ve got an impressionable young ‘un who can hear you.” His hand disappeared from between her thighs, making her sag and feel disappointed all at once. “Here, reach back and give her to me. Really, Mik, you need to stop reading dirty things into innocent helping gestures.”

  Rolling her eyes, she started to pull her shoulders free from under the bed, only to catch a glimpse of something behind the mirror. Stopping, she squinted her eyes, trying to make it out. What was it?

  A hand hooked into the waistband of her slacks and hauled her right out from under the bed with ease. Rolling onto her back to prop up onto her elbows, she frowned up at a grinning Luke. “Hope you get a hernia from that.”

  “Sweetest hernia I’ll ever get.” He winked.

  She flipped him the bird awkwardly from her position.

  Immediately he placed one finger across the kitten’s eyes. “Not in front of the baby, honey.”

  “You are such a dick.” Unable to help laughing, she held up one hand. “Here, let me try to give you another hernia.”

  Without hesitation he reached down, grabbed her hand and helped her up, giving her a tug the last bit so that she stumbled into him, using his grip to keep her arm behind her as he pulled her into him.

  Pressed against him, looking up into his smiling face, her breath caught at the tenderness that slid through his eyes.

  “Red,” he said softly, “stop with the hints of you being big.”

  Her cheeks flushed, her mouth opening to deny it even though it was true, but he didn’t give her a chance to lie.

  Leaning down, he placed his forehead against hers, looked deeply into her eyes, and stated simply, “You’re perfect just the way you are.” And, while still looking at her, he added, “This bloody cat is trying to chew my nipple off.”

  That had her give a choked laugh, mostly because she was both touched by his words and the truth in his eyes, and tickled at the rueful humour that suddenly accompanied his wince as he pulled back. Looking down, she saw the kitten between them, the claws on one little paw hooked in his shirt as she used her mouth to yank on a loose thread in his t-shirt. Yep, it was perilously close to his nipple.

  Looking up at him, she arched a brow and breathed, “Poor Lukey.” Then, placing her palm directly over his nipple, she massaged, rewarded by the sensation of the little nub pebbling agains
t her palm. Gazing seductively up at him from beneath lowered eyelashes, she smiled. “Better?”

  Going by the hot look in his eyes, the slight flush in his cheekbones, and the way he pressed his hips against her, it was more than better, but whatever he was about to say or do was halted by the door swinging open and Elspeth sweeping inside with Wally right behind her. “Did you find her? Oh, there she is!”

  Mikki pulled out of Luke’s arms, he turning to hand the kitten to Elspeth who snuggled her against her minuscule bosom and cooed sweet nothings to the kitten, while Wally gave Luke the jaundiced eye.

  Oops, looked like the butler-to-be had an inkling just what they were doing so close together, especially when he turned that disapproving look onto her.

  Stepping back beside her, Luke bent down enough to mutter out of the side of his mouth, “Congrats, Red, you’ve joined me on his shit list.”

  Feeling distinctly uncomfortable beneath Wally’s censorious eyeballing, she walked to the head of the four poster bed. “Here, help me move this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I saw something under it.”

  “The mirror?” Luke walked around to the other side of the bed.

  “No, something behind the mirror.”

  Placing his hands at the top of the bed, Mikki doing the same on her side, they both tugged, the heavy old bed shifting a few inches. Putting more effort into it, they managed to shift it enough for her to climb onto the bed and slide her hand down behind it. Searching around, she felt the mirror, slid her hand behind it and found the object.

  “It’s a book of some kind.” Grabbing onto it, she pulled it out, coming up onto her knees to hold it up. Dusty, a distinctly unpleasant smell coming from it, she opened it up to see spidery handwriting creeping across the pages. “Looks like a diary of some kind.”

  Getting off the bed, she stood while everyone gathered around behind her. Curiously, she flipped through the pages. “It is a dairy. See the entry dates? And I reckon it was written by a man.”

  “How do you figure that?” Luke queried.

  “Because women were taught to write elegantly in those days.”

  “So were men. Haven’t you seen some of the handwritten stuff from history?”

  Elspeth looked at Luke with renewed respect. “You’ve studied it, sweetie?”

  “Nah. Seen it in movies.”

  Respect turned to amusement. Unconcerned, he shrugged.

  Opening the front of the cover, Mikki read the name inscribed in faded print. “Wilford Willock.”

  Wally looked eager. “Wilford was the last owner of the mansion.”

  “He must have kept a diary.” Elspeth wiggled her fingers to entertain Duchess lying upside down in her arm.

  “Women kept diaries,” Luke said. “Men kept journals.” When everyone just looked at him, he added, “What? I’m just saying.”

  Opening to the first page, Mikki studied the faded writing. “It’s not an easy scrawl to read.”

  “Anything exciting?” Elspeth asked. “Secrets? Fornication? Illicit affairs?”

  Lips pinching disapprovingly, Wally wisely kept silent.

  “Let’s see.” Moving her finger across the page, Mikki read a few lines in silence before her eyebrows shot upwards. “Geez, here’s a secret.”

  “Oohh, do tell.” Elspeth peered over her shoulder.

  “There are no secrets in Willock Mansion,” Wally said stiffly. “The gentlemen and ladies of the day were strictly well behaved.”

  “Yeah?” Mikki said gleefully. “Well, one of those gentlemen was having it off with a married woman.”

  Wally’s lips pinched tighter. “It must be a very old journal.”

  Luke poked her gently in the side. “Come on, who was it? Who was boffing the married sheila?”

  “No one else but our very own Wilford Willock.” Mikki grinned up at Luke. “And he wasn’t boffing the married housemaid, but one of the wealthier married women in town.”

  “Just goes to show,” Elspeth mused, “even hermits have secrets.”

  Luke waggled his eyebrows at Wally. “Looks like Willock Mansion hid a sordid little secret after all, Wal.”

  Wally’s expression was distinctly unfriendly. “It’s Wally.”

  Holding up the wriggling kitten, Elspeth announced, “I’m starving and so is this little mite. Let’s go down to the kitchen for a cuppa and afternoon tea. Mikki,” she glanced at her, “you’re filthy from crawling on the floor, and Luke,” she slid her gaze to him, “so are you. I’d advise you to both clean up before you join us.”

  Mikki looked down at her shirt. Grime clung to it. “Ugh.” Now that it was brought to her attention she could smell the faint odour of mouldering linen and carpet, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

  As they walked from the room she couldn’t help but notice Wally cast the journal several glances. Knowing his pride in his ancestors serving the master of the mansion, she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. No one wanted their ideals to be destroyed, and she had no doubt he’d rather she’d never discovered the journal.

  Still, she was going to see if she could find out just with whom their eccentric hermit had been having an adulterous affair. For sure, it would shed some light on the pervious mysterious owner of Willock Mansion.

  Chapter 7

  Walking into the library was almost déjà vu. Anna stood at the desk not really interested in Mikki, her gaze on the computer in front of her as though she were deciding the world’s fate.

  Good thing she wasn’t, it would have brought an ice age.

  “Just a minute,” Anna said a trifle coldly.

  Obviously she knew who it was by either looking out the corner of her eye, seeing Mikki’s reflection in the glass wall behind her, or by some satanic ritual she’d performed in the early hours of the waning moon.

  Mikki spent a pleasant five minutes wondering if Anna did the full naked dance around the clearing before summoning a demon - which was probably her doppelganger.

  Oohh, Mikki, way to be a bitch.

  Grinning, she drummed her fingers soundlessly on her thigh while gazing around the big room. Aisles of books, old photos on the wall depicting the town as it had been over the years, showing the progress from bustles to miniskirts and back down to the maxi dress. Fashion, she mused, could only go so far, and then it had to turn around…or go weird. Like some of those clothes in the fashion shows. Seriously, who would wear that except an acid-tripping space girl in a sci-fi movie?

  The sound of a throat clearing brought her out of her reflections, and she turned around to find Anna standing behind her as though she’d been waiting for hours.

  “Hi,” Mikki said brightly. “Remember me?”

  “Yes,” Anna replied frostily.

  Mikki didn’t miss the glance she gave behind Mikki. Undoubtedly she was hoping for a glimpse of Luke, but she’d left him back at the mansion with Elspeth going through the piles of photos he’d photocopied from the books. The last she’d seen, they’d had their heads together, each with a pencil in their hands as they discussed ideas and made lines and scribbles across two sheets of paper that had started with identical outlines on them but were now covered with question marks, names of flowers and plants, and the odd drawing of who-knew-what. Elspeth had given her an absent hand wave while Luke had tossed her a wink.

  “Ahem.” Anna raised her eyebrows. “You wanted something?”

  “Oh yeah.” Drawing her mind back from the memory of the wicked promise in that wink, Mikki pulled the old journal from the plastic bag.

  Anna’s nose wrinkled. “What is that awful smell?”

  “Sorry.” Mikki smiled a little ruefully. “It’s this.” She waggled the journal.

  “And what, precisely, are you doing bringing that awful smelling book into my library?”

  “I found it at the Willock mansion.”

  Anna looked at the journal.

  “It was Wilford Willock’s.”

  “That?” />
  “Yep.” Mikki nodded.

  “You think that old journal belonged to Wilford Willock?”

  “It has his name in the front.” Mikki opened the cover and held it out to Anna, who instinctively stepped back from the dubious smell released anew before she moved forward and peered at the name inscribed inside of the front cover. “See?”

  “Okay.” Anna rested her hands on the desktop. “Why are you bringing it here? Shouldn’t you take it to the museum?”

  “No.”

  Anna sighed.

  “My aunt bought the mansion and whatever was in it belongs to her.” Mikki slid the book back into the plastic bag. “That includes this journal.”

  With a very put-upon sigh of resignation, the librarian surveyed Mikki.

  “I’m here to see if you have any books on the people of this town,” Mikki explained.

  “Uh huh.”

  Ignoring the bored tone, Miki continued, “Specifically the wealthier town members. I’m sure you have old newspaper articles, some books?”

  “And this links with…” Anna gestured almost distastefully to the bag. “That mouldy old book?”

  Geez, and she called herself a librarian. Weren’t they supposed to love books and history and stuff? “There are people mentioned in here that I’m curious about.”

  “I doubt they’d be very interesting.”

  Wow, if she thought like that about the previous inhabitants of this town no wonder she felt trapped here. Then again, she probably didn’t have any idea of who had been boinking who in the past. Mikki winked. “Sometimes the past can be racy.”

  “Racy.”

  “Did you know that history is full of adulterers?”

  Obviously having heard enough, Anna walked out from behind the desk and led Mikki to the back of the library, indicating a computer on a small table. “A lot of the old newspapers have been scanned and put on there. I’ll bring it up for you.” Sitting gracefully, she started to click away on the keyboard. “Do you know who you’re looking for in particular?”

  “Not really.” Mikki placed the plastic bag holding the journal on the floor, careful to ensure it was folded over so the smell didn’t seep out to contaminate the air. It really was a bit gross.