Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,15

pin money?"

Mark gave her a puzzled look, then shrugged. "What Austin and Brett are doing is in the book, too. It said that people used to hide stuff in steps and something called a newel post."

"That's what you run into with your backside when you slide down a banister,”Henry told his grandson.

Rose snorted with laughter. Grace ignored them both.

"There's places outside they used to use, too, Grandpa. That's where I want to look. Fences posts and stepping stones and near animal pens."

Oscar murmured to Dana and Jack, "This is the most animated I've seen the boy since he arrived."

"I guess it just took him a while to get into the spirit of things," Jack said.

Dana changed the subject. "Oscar," she began diffidently, "last night Jack and I were out back and we heard what sounded like whispering by the old oak."

"Did you really?" He looked at both of them sharply. "How very interesting."

Jack and Dana looked at each other and wondered at his reaction. All other conversations had stopped and Grace sat back down in anticipation. "Is this another ghost story?"

"I suppose you can call it that. That tree is called, The Whispering Oak, and the story is that a young girl who once lived here used to meet her lover at night under its branches. Her father disapproved of the young man and one night he caught them together there. Despite his daughters tears, he had a couple of his men drag the boy away, severely beat him and ran him out of town, never to return. The daughter was heartbroken, never married and died an old maid."

"What a sad story!" Rose said.

"The legend has it that on some nights they whisper to each other in the dark. But only certain couples can hear them."

Grace was practically vibrating with excitement. "What certain couples? You're not telling us the whole legend."

Oscar looked at Dana and then at Jack and smiled his maddening, mysterious smile. "It's only a legend, after all."

Everyone turned towards Dana and Jack in speculation. To Dana's relief, Brett chose that moment to come bursting into the dining room.

"Oscar, we need a claw hammer."

Henry couldn't resist the dig. "You mean that was something you didn't think to bring with you?"

Austin sauntered in. "Can't think of everything." He looked Dana up and down with what he obviously thought was a smoldering look. Jack noticed and grimaced.

"In the shed, where I keep most of my tools, but I'm not certain I have a claw hammer. You are welcome to anything in there as long as you return it. If there's something you need that I don't have, I suppose you could drive into town," Oscar said.

"The closest town, if you want to call it that," growled Austin in disgust, "is twenty miles away.”He sauntered back out, Brett following, muttering about hammers.

Henry shook his head. "I swear, he'd gripe if he was hung with a new rope."

Oscar sighed with resignation. "I guess I'll have to keep an eye on them just to make sure they don't tear up too much. I have every confidence that the rest of you will use good judgment and consideration."

"Don't worry, Oscar," Mark assured him, "we won't hurt anything."

Anxious to get started, Rose and Grace hurried off, discussing a plan about looking for hidden rooms. Henry and Mark left, heads together, still pouring over the book and discussing possible places to search. Dana looked around and noticed that she and Jack were alone in the dining room. "Hey, where's Noah?" Dana asked.

"He and Josie slipped out the back a couple of minutes ago. I think they are checking out the gazebo." Where Austin had only thought his look was smoldering, Jack's really was. Dana felt herself blushing under his gaze. How does he do that? She had blushed more around him in the last eighteen hours than she ever had in her life. In fact, she hadn't blushed this much since her freshman year in high school when Mrs. Lien, her science teacher, had caught Dana necking with her son Josh in a janitor's closet. Boy, had her face been red then!

"So," he said, edging closer towards her. He gave her a slow, sexy smile. "A part-time showgirl, um?"

Dana's breath caught in her chest. Why hadn't she ever noticed before that Jack had a sexy smile? Apparently, Jack wasn't that determined that things should still be the same between them, at least not all the time. Dana felt her stomach fluttering around her breakfast. I shouldn't