The Wells Brothers: Luke (9 page)

“Nothing.”

“No.  What?”  She returned her
attention to his scratches.

Both the scratches and the couple
of bites had stopped bleeding.  Guess tiny teeth wouldn’t do a lot of damage
but he still had to be careful of infection.

“Did you tell him we were at the
mansion?”

“He asked.”

“He knows about Elspeth?”

“He does now.  Not that it was
hard for him to put two and two together.”

Luke grunted.  “That explains
that, then.”

“Hmm?”  Poor bugger, his arm was now
that peculiar yellow/brown colour from the Betadine, but he had held onto the
kitten and not gotten too mad about it.  Had to give the man credit for that.

“He’s hitting on you because he
thinks you’re wealthy.”

That had her head snapping up to
look at him.  “What?”

“Why else would he be all chummy?”

“Well, geez, don’t hold back on my
account.”

“I mean, come on.  A bloke doesn’t
practically fall all over himself with a woman he just met.”  Luke held out his
other arm, waiting. 

Cheeky bugger.  “Are you saying he
couldn’t possibly be interested in
me
?”

“Why would he?”  Luke seemed
genuinely surprised.

“Oh, I don’t know.  Maybe he
thinks I’m pretty?”

Luke gave a bark of laughter.

Bastard
.  Mildly annoyed,
she liberally poured Betadine onto another cotton ball and slapped it on his
arm.  Hard.

“Hells bells!” Luke jumped,
yanking his arm away.  “Geez, Mikki!”

“Sorry.”

“I bet.”

“What would I know?  I’m just the
ugly sister.”

He snorted.  “You have several
sisters.”

“I’m the ugly one, obviously.”

“You’re not ugly.”

“Why, Prince Charming.”  She
fluttered her eyelashes.  “Just listen to big handsome you trying to be nice to
lil ol’me.  I’m touched.”

“You’ve got the last part right.” 
He peered down at his arm.  “I think you got all the scratches.”

“What, afraid of the sting?”

“Of your tongue or your administrations?”

“Afraid I’m going to bite you?”

“Your bite is definitely worse
than your bark.”

Amused, she flashed him a grin. 
“Lift up your shirt.”

One eyebrow rose above his
glasses.  “After my body now?”

“Are you kidding me?  I have a
handsome chemist wanting to show me around, why would I be lusting after you?”

Hooking the fingers of one hand
into the hem of his t-shirt, Luke drew it up to reveal an impressive six pack. 
“Try not to attack me.”

“You’d be wishing.”  She ran the
cotton ball down several small scratches on his abdomen.  Man, she had to admit
he had a good set of muscles there.  And the heat from his body was kind
of…like a little
wow
.  She’d never been this close to him before, not
like this with her hands running over that ripped abdomen.

Silence fell between them as she
tipped more Betadine onto a clean cotton ball and ran it over a couple more
scratches.

Man, she’d never have ever
believed she’d actually be attending to Luke Well’s body.  She’d be the envy of
many a woman who had no doubt run their tongues over this same ripped body and
maybe further down to…  Her hand slowed as she traced a scratch near the
waistband of his jeans.

Luke suddenly sucked in a breath,
making her hand slip, the tips of her fingers sliding into the waistband of his
jeans, the backs of her fingers brushing against his abdomen, the tips hitting
the waistband of his underwear.

Heart giving a jump, nerves tingling
unexpectedly, Mikki tore her hand away like a shot.  “Sorry!”

When he didn’t answer, she looked
up to find him watching her.  Damn, she wished she could see his eyes, know
what he was thinking, but nothing was revealed on that normally happy, handsome
face.

He neither replied, moved away, nor
pulled his shirt down.

Mouth dry, she dropped her eyes to
the bottle and cotton ball in her hands.  “Um...I think it’s all done.”

She made to step back, only to
have him say quietly, “Not yet.”

Startled, she looked back up at
him.  He continued to hold her gaze as he slowly drew the t-shirt up higher to reveal
one impressive pec.

Her gaze was drawn like a magnet
to that pec, to the brown male nipple that graced it, to the swell of muscle,
to…  “It’s just a little scratch,” she squeaked.

His voice deepened a
spine-tingling fraction.  “Needs Betadine.”

Well hell, what was she supposed
to do?  Refuse to tend to it?  She had no idea if he was teasing her, leading
her on just a little for his own amusement, or - wait, yeah, that had to be
it.  He was amusing himself at her expense, the jerk.

Setting her jaw, she locked her
eyes on his sunglasses and with admirable dexterity managed to get the cotton
ball onto the end of the Betadine bottle, tipped it, soaked the cotton ball
and, refusing to look away from his face, placed it on his pec and wiped up and
down several times.  “Better?” she asked sardonically.

“Sure you got that in the right
place, Red?”

“Of course.  I’m not an idiot.”

“Because that’s my nipple you’re
rubbing.”

She looked down, red seeping into
her cheeks.  Damn it, she’d just Betadined his nipple!  Missed the scratch by a
country mile!

Play it cool
.

Taking a deep breath, she shifted
her hand to dab at the scratch on the other side of his pec. 
Dab dab dab
.

Unexpectedly, his other hand came
up to wrap around her fingers.  “Don’t dab, Red.”

“Huh?”

“I like a firm stroke.”  His voice
was a little husky. 

Oh boy
.  She swallowed,
suddenly so aware of him leaning towards her, his abdomen and chest deliciously
on show, her hand in his.  And most definitely aware of the innuendo.

Wait, was it innuendo? 

“I like a firm stroke where it
counts,” he continued softly.

“R-really?”

“Oh yeah.  Don’t be shy, Mikki, just
stroke down it.”

Crap on a stick, what he
just
said!
  “A-are we still talking about this scratch?”

The question made him freeze then
jerk upright, yanking his t-shirt down and releasing her hand as he did so. 
But rather than back away, he simply stared down at her.

For one of the few times in her
life, she didn’t know what to say.  She could still feel the heat of his skin
around her fingers, the way his voice dropped to huskiness.  The way her thighs
trembled just a little and her heart fastened.

“Hey, you two!”  Elspeth’s voice
cut through the tense silence.

Grateful for the interruption,
Mikki moved back, shoving the Betadine and bag of cotton balls into his hands. 
“Here, you can finish this off if you need to.”  Smiling brightly, she faced Elspeth. 
“Hey, how’s the little tacker?”

“The little tacker’s a girl just
as we knew, and she’s fine.”  Cheerful as always, Elspeth strode across to
them, so at ease in high heels that would have had Mikki eating dust in seconds
if she’d even thought about wearing them.  “And she’s coming home with us.”

Incredibly conscious of the warmth
at her back, the tall muscular man so silent, Mikki was grateful for Elspeth’s
presence.  “So where is she then?”

“She’s a little dehydrated, hungry,
and apparently has a serious case of worms.  Poor little mite hasn’t been cared
for properly.  She’s just scared, not feral.” Elspeth scowled, then sighed, and
followed it with a smile.  “Anyway, the vet’s going to give her something to
eat and drink and worm her, and keep an eye on her while we go and do our
stuff.”  Walking past them, she opened the passenger door.

Automatically, Luke opened it
wider for Elspeth and waited.

Refusing to look at him, Mikki concentrated
on Elspeth.  “We might lose her at the mansion, it’s a big place and she’s just
a little scrap.”

“The vet’s such a lovely man, he’s
going to loan us a cage we can keep her in when we’re busy.”  Elspeth set her
handbag primly on her lap.  “We’ll need to buy kitten food, milk, litter and
such before we pick her back up and head home.  Speaking of which, we have  a
lot to do.  Luke, sweetie, how’re your poor hands?”

“Fine.”  Catching her looking at
the Betadine bottle, he gestured to Mikki.  “She took care of it.  I’m good as
new.”

“Excellent.  So, are we ready to
get busy?”

Busy sounded good.  Busy sounded
just what Mikki needed to get her head back on straight.  She still wasn’t sure
what had just happened, or indeed if anything
had
happened.  Maybe it
had just been her imagination playing out some pretty tantalising fantasies.

Closing the passenger door, Luke
opened the back door and waited for her.  It was all she could do to maintain
composure, but she managed a cool ‘Thanks’ with admirable grace and got into
the car.

He hesitated, making her wonder if
he was going to say something, but then he handed her the Betadine bottle and
cotton balls, shut the door and strode around to the driver’s seat.  Slipping
the items into the original bag, Mikki tied the top and placed it on the floor.

Luke started the SUV before
turning to Elspeth.  “Where first?”

“If we park near the antique
dealer, I can go and see him while you and Mikki go to the library.”

Mikki glanced up at the rear-view
mirror to find him watching her.  She managed a cool smile.  Great, just what
she didn’t need.  What she did need was a few minutes alone to get some surprisingly
jangled nerves back in place.

He simply nodded.  “Where’s the
dealer?”

“Main street.”

He looked over his shoulder both
ways.  “We’re on the main drag already, by the looks of it.”

“Towns can be so quaint, can’t
they?”  Elspeth flapped a hand in the direction of the chemist.  “The vet said
the antique dealer was about halfway down.  The library is a bit further but
not far.”

Minutes later the SUV pulled into
a parking place right in front of a small shop with ‘Yorick Antique Dealer’
emblazoned on gold and black across the windows.  Black iron bars striped down
the window frames to disappear into the brickwork.

Luke frowned.  “You sure this
bloke knows what he’s talking about?”

Elspeth was surprised.  “Yes.”

“How well do you know him?”

“He came highly recommended.”

Luke studied the window.  “So why
is he out here in this small town instead of the city?”

“He retired here.”  Smiling,
Elspeth reached out to pat his arm.  “You’re worried.  How thoughtful.  But no
need to fret, sweetie.  He’s worked for museums, he’s worked in Paris, he’s worked in Canberra-”

“Land of politicians.  And you
think I shouldn’t worry?”

“He’s highly regarded in the
antique circles.”

Luke’s lips pursed.  “Maybe I’ll
go in with you.”

Unbuckling the seatbelt, Mikki opened
the car door.  “What do you know about antiques?”

“Bugger all,” he replied
truthfully, “but I know an honest man when I see one.”

Right at that moment an elderly
man was seen in the window carefully placing a vase on the shelf.  He gave it a
loving brush of his hand before disappearing back into the depths of the shop.

“That’s him,” Elspeth said. 
“Bernard Yorick.”

“So what do you think?” Mikki
asked dryly.  “Honest?”

“Honestly old.”  Luke stared at
the shop.  “He looked about a hundred and five.”

Laughing, Mikki got out of the
car, Elspeth doing the same.  Luke got out a lot slower, still looking at the
shop.

“Don’t worry about it, Luke.” 
Elspeth tugged her dress into place, smoothed down her elegant chignon, straightened
the little cardigan and hooked her handbag over one forearm.  “I’ll attend to
the arrangements for Bernard to come to the mansion and handle the furniture
and artwork that’s left, while you and Mikki see what you can find out at the library.”

“You’re on a first name basis with
Mr Yorick already?” Mikki queried.

“I met him already, remember?  He
came to the city and attended a fundraising party at the same time as I.” 
Setting her shoulders, Elspeth stepped up onto the footpath and walked through the
doorway of the shop.  “If you’re not back here in half an hour, I’ll come to
the library.  See you later, dears.”

Beeping the locks shut, Luke
looked across the car roof at Mikki, one eyebrow raised above the frame of his
sunglasses.  “Library it is then, Red.”

He spoke so naturally that Mikki
relaxed.  The old Luke was back.  But then again, maybe he had been there all
along and it was just her addled wits that made things seem a little odd back
in the vet’s parking lot.

Yeah, that had to be it, especially
when he strolled along beside her, arms swinging easily as though he hadn’t a thought
in the world apart from his landscaping, pointing across the road to drawl,
“There’s the library just up there.”

It was time she took a leaf out of
his book and concentrated on what she was here for, not her weirdo moment.

There were enough weirdo moments
coming when they entered the library, the woman at the desk taking one look at
Luke and willing to do everything but prostrate herself at his feet in a bid to
get his full attention.

Standing beside him, Mikki
couldn’t help but shake her head in amusement when she didn’t even garner an
acknowledging glance.  No big surprise, the good-looking landscaper always drew
second and third looks from women.

“I’m Anna.”  Leaning against the
counter, the woman smiled up at him.  “What can I help you with?”

“Do you have any photos of the
Willock mansion and the grounds?” he asked.

Her eyes widened.  “You’re the
buyer?”

“No.”  Taking off the sunglasses,
he tucked them into his pocket, giving her the full-on sparkle of his blue
eyes.