The Wells Brothers: Luke (11 page)

“I need to get up.  Wally’s going
to show me some books with interior photos of the old mansion.”

“Huh?”

She looked at him like he was an
imbecile.  Lanky was doing the same.

“If you could let me go?”  Her
eyebrows rose.  “Now?  Photos, Luke.  Of the mansion?  Remember?”

“Oh.  Oh!  Yeah, of course.”  He
released her, standing as soon as she did, only to stop when she gave him the
oddest glance.  “Now what?”

“The photos are of the inside of
the mansion.  You’re researching the outside, remember?”

Geez, of course he was.  He gave
himself a mental head slap and resumed his seat.  “I’ll be right here.”

“Didn’t think you’d be anywhere
else,” she dryly.  As Lanky walked away from the table, she leaned down to
whisper in Luke’s ear, “Unless you and Anna end up boinking like bunnies on the
table.”

Her teasing words were fighting
words.  Her warm, moist breath in his ear was ball-coiling inducing.  But it
also meant that if she was so unaffected then he’d imagined the whole thing
between them.  Looked like the only one who’d had kissing on their minds had
been him.

That unwelcome thought made him
disgruntled.  “Maybe I’ll take Anna up on it.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.  Just make
sure you put something in the air besides your bare arse so I know in time and
don’t interrupt.”  With that parting shot, Mikki strolled away.

Eyes narrowed, Luke watched those
curvy hips sway provocatively down the aisle.  Man, she was asking for a
parting shot but right then he couldn’t think of a thing to say.  His bare arse
in the air?  He’d like to have an arm long enough to reach out and give her a
whack on her arse as she walked so nonchalantly away.  Woman had a mouth on
her, that was for sure.

Someone ought to kiss that sass
away.

He could do that.

No!  Enough!

Sucking in a deep breath, Luke
turned back to the book he’d been studying - okay, looking at while the whole
time his thoughts had been on the curvy woman on his lap and in the circle of
his arm.  It was time to stop fooling around and get down to business.  He was
on Elspeth’s payroll, he had a contract signed, and he had plans to deliver. 
Time to get to work.

Reaching out to the middle of the table,
he snagged a sheet of paper and started to take notes as he leafed through the
book.

Time passed as he immersed himself
in the photos, the long-ago gardens of the mansion unfurling before him. 
Several times he got up to take photocopies, piling them up on the table beside
the books.  The pages filled with notes and sketches as ideas came to him.

The gardens had been beautiful, he
had no trouble seeing them in his mind’s eyes amidst the ruins that now filled
the surroundings of the mansion.  The trick would be reproducing them - or did
he want to reproduce them?  Maybe some of the original gardens, with something
a little more modern in-between to link the years from when the gardens were
first created to now.  A blending.  Maybe old-style around the perimeter
becoming more modern as it neared the house, or vice versa.  Or maybe he should
keep it all the same, as old fashioned as possible.

Brushing the tip of his thumb
across his lips, he debated the idea.  Definitely something he needed to
discuss with Elspeth, see what she thought.

Stretching, he eased his neck
side-to-side, easing out a few kinks from hunching over the books and paper. 
More used to working with his hands, sitting down for a period of time wasn’t
something of which he did a lot.

Getting up, he cast his gaze over
the books.  Some of these held good pictures he wanted to check out and take
back to the mansion to study and talk to with Elspeth.  The others could go
back.

Gathering up the books he didn’t
want, he placed them back on the shelf, glancing around as he did so to see if
he could spot Mikki.  Not seeing her, he picked up the few books he wanted and
the pile of papers and started weaving around the aisles.

No Mikki.  Concerned, he did
another quick hunt before walking across to the main desk.

Anna gave him a frosty look.

“I’ll take these.”  He gestured. 
“You haven’t seen my friend, have you?”

“She left.”

That had Luke’s eyebrows shooting
up.  “She what?”

“Left.”  Anna said it with
satisfaction.

“With Lanky?”

“Who?”

“I mean Wally.  She left with
Wally?”

Anna shrugged.  “Possibly.”

Possibly? 
Possibly?
  Mikki
had left with a strange man without telling him?  Luke started for the door,
rounding the wall to see her standing outside talking to Lanky.  Against her
chest she held a book and what looked to be several papers.

Relieved, he returned to the desk
to find Anna waiting for him.  If looks could kill, he’d have carked it on the
spot.

“If you want to check these books
out,” she said coldly, “I’ll need your driver’s licence to get you a card.”

Pulling the wallet from his back
pocket, he took out his driver’s licence and handed it to her.  “Thanks.”  Then,
because he wasn’t a mean person by nature, he attempted a pleasant, “Been here
long?”

“Long enough.”

It was snowing in hell,
apparently.  “Okay.”

Handing him a card, she seemed to
thaw a little.  “I was born here, actually.”

“Must be a nice place for you to
decide to stay here.”

“Trapped, more like.”

Oookay.  “Sorry to hear that.”  He
reached for the books.

She didn’t say anything further,
but he felt her gaze on him as he walked to the wall and around it, a sigh of
relief slipping from him as the wall cut her from sight.

Outside, Mikki turned to him from
where she and Lanky were still talking.  Her eyes sparkled as usual.  “Wally’s
going to take us to the museum and show us the photos they have of the inside
of the mansion in its hey-day.”

Luke looked at Lanky.  “You know a
lot about the mansion?”

Lanky regarded him distantly, as
though Luke were shit on his shoes.  “I’m a descendant of the original butler.”

Maybe Luke didn’t measure up in
Lanky’s butler-clad genes.  “So you’d know a lot about the comings and goings
over the years, I’m guessing.”

“A lot of it, yes.”  Lanky
switched his attention to Mikki.  “Your aunt would benefit from coming with us,
seeing as how it’s her place now.”

Thoughtfully, Mikki nodded.  “Not
a bad idea.  I’ll see if she’s free to come.”

“Where is she?” Lanky queried.

Moving up beside Mikki, Luke
gestured to the other side of the street.  “Coming right now.”

They all watched Elspeth walking daintily
across the road, not one waver from her sky-high heels.  As she approached, she
beamed.

The woman was always beaming,
always happy. Maybe that’s where Mikki got her spirit.  Then again, where
Elspeth was like a light, pastel, airy little fairy, Mikki was almost earthy
with her enjoyment-laden laugh, her sparkling eyes, and her very scrumptious
body.

Wait, had he really just thought
that?

Before Luke could upbraid himself,
Elspeth stopped beside them.  “Hello, dears.   How did your research go?”

Before they could answer, Lanky
stepped forward to take her hand and actually bend over it in an old-fashioned
bow.  “Delighted, I’m sure.”

Mikki shot Luke a what-the hell
look, which he returned with raised eyebrows.

Give Elspeth credit, she took it
all in stride as though strange men bowing over her hand happened every day.

Maybe it did.

“And you are…?”

“Enchanted.”  He angled his head
up to smile at her.

In his dour face, it was a little
scary.

Behind him, Mikki rolled her
eyes.  Luke rolled his right back at her.

Elspeth didn’t miss a beat. 
“Well, Enchanted, I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Ha ha.”  Lanky straightened. 
“Wally DeOvert at your service.”

“Used to be the butler,” Luke
said.  “Serving’s in his genes.”

Mikki grinned widely, wiping it
away just as quickly when Lanky, pointedly ignoring Luke and his smart-arsed
comment, turned to her.  “You never mentioned how young your aunt was.”

Good Lord.  Was he really hearing
this?  Luke felt like sticking one finger in his ear and giving it a good
waggle around, but he had no doubt Elspeth would smack him upside the head if
he did that, plus, regardless of Mikki’s juvenile influence, he was an adult.

And Elspeth’s employee.

That last one was the
deal-breaker.

“My, aren’t you the flatterer.” 
Elspeth might have appeared flattered, but her eyes were calculating as she
smiled up at Lanky.  “You must know a lot about the people who lived at the
mansion.”

“Absolutely.”  Lanky held his arm
out to her.  “I was going to take your lovely niece to the museum to show her
the photos and tell you about the various members.”  He held his other arm out
to Mikki.  “Shall we?”

No way was this jerk taking the
women anywhere without Luke.  He quickly grabbed Mikki’s arm.  “We’ll just put
this stuff in the car and be right back, Elspeth.”

“Of course, dears.”  Her eyes were
lasered onto Lanky.

As soon as they were out of ear
shot, Mikki started laughing.

“What?” Luke queried.

“Did you see the way Aunt was
looking at Wally?  She’ll suck him dry of every bit of knowledge he has.”

“She did have this glint in her
eyes,” Luke mused.

“Don’t be fooled by her dainty
demeanour, that woman can drag state secrets out of the Prime Minister with one
bat of her eyelashes.”

“I think you’re exaggerating just
a touch.”  He beeped the car unlocked.

Mikki handed him the books and
papers she carried, waited until he was bent into the car to place them on the
seat and announced, “She works for Aaron.”

That startled Luke so much he
straightened with a snap, forgetting he was partially in the car and almost
taking his head off.  Luckily Mikki yanked him back in time.

Astonished, Luke looked down at
her.  “She what?”

“You heard.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

No, she looked dead serious.  Luke
glanced at the airy-fairy across the road talking to Lanky.  The woman was
known to be a bit eccentric at times, maybe she had hidden depths.  Aaron would
know those depths but…
nah, couldn’t be.  Could it?
  He looked back at
Mikki.

“Actually, I’m messing with you.” 
She smiled broadly.  “For my own amusement.”

“This day is doing my head in,” he
muttered.

All hilarity fled as she looked at
him thoughtfully for several seconds before murmuring, “Isn’t it just?”

They looked at each other for long
seconds before Luke beeped the locks closed and walked beside her back to where
Elspeth and Lanky waited.

~*~

Pushing branches aside, Mikki led
the way down the narrow pathway.  The bushes had grown thickly, almost as
though in an attempt to hide the way to the graveyard.  The breeze blew softly,
rustling the undergrowth, but she could almost imagine it was restless spirits
annoyed at her determination to disturb their place of rest.

Nothing worked like an overactive imagination.

Behind her trod Aunt Elspeth, her
dainty dress and high heels swapped for expensive jeans and white sneakers.

“Just imagine,” Elspeth was
saying.  “If we widen this track to a much more suitable three-abreast width,
and pave it as Luke suggested, we can open it up to the visitors.  I just know
some of them would love seeing the old chapel and graveyard.”

“You could have a night tour.  Or
dusk.  Dusk is good,” Mikki decided, ignoring the scratch she got on her arm
from a particularly stubborn branch.  “Ghosts like dusk.  It’s the time between
night and day, when two worlds collide.”

“I like it.”

“So do ghosts and thrill seekers.”

“Maybe we should come back at dusk
instead of midnight to see if we can find a ghost.”  Elspeth paused, thought,
then shook her head.  “Even better, let’s come at dusk and midnight.”

Mikki jerked a strand of hair away
from an overhanging branch.  “I might be bald by then.”

“No worries.  We can use the moonlight
shining off your head to light the way.”

“Trust you to find an economical
way to create light.”

Elspeth laughed.

After several more minutes of
walking, they stepped out into a small clearing.  Underfoot was thick grass and
weeds, some of the weeds reaching as high as their waists, but what took
Mikki’s attention was the view.  Right in front of them was an old chapel, the
stone-work still intact, the old, wooden door partially open to the elements. 
It even had a little porch roof, sagging and in bad need of repair.  An old
stained glass window was, amazingly, still intact.  To the left was a fenced in
graveyard, and surprisingly, further away a second small graveyard.

“Chapel first!” Elspeth said, and
with undignified haste approached it.

Many would think her nuts, but
Mikki understood her aunt.  Discoveries like this excited her, and she embraced
excitement whole-heartedly.  It gave her that whimsical air - and that
eccentric label.  It also made discovering things with her loads of fun.

Mikki followed her through the
door. It was hard to open.  Elspeth slid through with no worries, Mikki nearly
got her boobs squashed.  “Geez.”

“Suck in, sweetie, suck in,”
Elspeth called out.

“I can suck in my belly, my boobs
are a whole other story.”  Mikki eased inside and looked around.  “Wow.”

The chapel was old, festooned with
cobwebs, smelling faintly of animal urine and covered in dust, but it still
retained the atmosphere.  Amazingly, four pews each side of the room remained
in their places, the altar stood the test of time directly ahead, and a big
wooden cross hung on the wall behind it.  Three high windows marched along each
wall, four with the glass intact, two broken.  Shelves here and there had once
held statues or candles of some kind.  A couple of old hymn books sat on the closest
pew, the covers damp and dusty.  Mikki was too afraid to touch them in case
they fell apart in her hands.