Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,29

people might not want to sleep in a castle that was haunted by voodoo spirits. And to the best of my knowledge, there is no history of voodoo associated with this castle."

"Well, if not you, then who?" Rose demanded. "Somebody must be doing it." She looked around. "Not all of us are here,”she said, noticing that Mark, Henry, Brett, Austin and Josie had not left their rooms. "Don't you think that's suspicious?"

"Well, it is after 1a.m." Dana grinned. "And while I may be loud, I've seen some people sleep through anything."

"Let's not get carried away and start pointing fingers just yet," Oscar warned. "I must admit that it makes more sense that I would be behind this stunt than any of you. I know it's not me, but why should it be any of you? You were all mostly strangers to each other before you arrived here."

"These stunts,”Noah murmured thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you count what happened to Dana and Josie in the stairwell, this is the second time."

Dana hopped out of Jack's arms. "You mean somebody is deliberately trying to scare us?"

Oscar shook his head. "Perhaps it seems that way, but that makes no sense. Who would be doing it? Why?"

Grace patted out a huge yawn, apparently recovered from her fright. "Well, I still say its real ghosts. If it isn't Oscar and it isn't any of us, then who's left?"

Noah grinned. "Just Cedric?"

Grace brightened. "Exactly." Another yawn. "I'm going back to bed. I need my beauty sleep."

Rose shrugged. "What the hell. Nothing's getting settled this way."

Everyone headed back to his or her own rooms. Once Dana reached her bedroom door, she tugged Jack to a stop. "Jack stick around for a minute. I want to talk to you about something. Go on in, I'll be right back." Fighting back his own yawn, Jack nodded and went into her room to wait. Dana followed Noah to his room, catching him just as he reached his door. "Hey. Um, I just want to tell you…well, don't wait up for Jack. He won't be coming back tonight."

Noah looked at her a moment uncomprehending. Then his eyes widened. "Oh, boy!"

"Shush! Goodnight, Noah." She kissed her brother's cheek, her eyes glowing with excitement and headed back to her room.

Jack was sitting on her bed, leaning sleepily against one of the posts at the foot. Dana closed the door and sat down next to him. They simply looked at each other, neither saying anything. Jack broke the silence first. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing." Walking on her knees, she moved closer to him. She picked up his right hand and, sliding it along her back, wrapped his arm around her waist. Jack, who was wide-awake now, pulled her closer. He watched her in wonder as she explored his face with gentle, questing fingers, across his lips, down his nose, smoothing out the tiny laugh lines around his eyes. Again and again, her fingers traveled his face as if she was trying to memorize it. She leaned forward and whispered against his mouth. "Stay with me tonight.” Then she kissed him.

With a groan Jack pulled her to him even tighter and kissed her with desperate hunger. He buried his hands into her hair. His kissed her eyes, he kissed her lips, and he kissed her throat. Shuddering with need, he took a ragged breath. "Do you know what you're asking? If we do this, there's no going back."

"I don't want to go back,”she whispered, running her tongue along his chin. He sucked in his breath. "I want to go forward. Don't you?"

He wanted to shout with joy. Instead he tumbled her back onto the bed. Smiling down at her, his eyes shone with all the love he had been afraid to reveal for so long. He kissed her with such heart-shattering tenderness she wanted to weep from it. "Finally,”he whispered.

Chapter 8

The gray outside of Dana's window was just beginning to lighten when she woke. Momentarily startled by the feel of someone's foot sliding along her calf, she smiled lazily in remembrance. Jack... Jack was with her this morning.

His scent, warm and manly, permeated the room and Dana inhaled deeply. While this wasn't the first time she had awoken with a man in her bed, this was the first time it had felt right. Dana had never understood why she always felt awkward and uncomfortable the morning after spending the night with a man. She was beginning to realize that it was because