Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,32

way she felt in his arms, the way she responded to his touch, it couldn't have been just sex for her. Could it?

"Jack, now you're worrying me."

"Why?"

"Because you look worried."

Jack sighed. "The truth is, we really haven't talked about it."

"About marriage?"

"About any of it."

Noah stared at him, quietly astonished. "Don't you think you should?"

"Probably,”he said with a rueful chuckle.

"Jack, aren't you in love with my sister?"

At least this was one question he could give Noah a definitive answer to. "Yes, I have been for quite some time."

"And she's in love with you?"

Of this Jack was less sure. He shrugged. "I don't know, I think so."

"But you don't know for certain."

"Not until she tells me, no."

Noah was silent for several minutes. It had seemed so simple at first. Try to get Jack and Dana to see that they belonged together. He knew it and they knew it, too, whether they acknowledged it consciously or not. At least now Jack had. Surely after last night Dana did as well. So why hadn't she said anything? Why hadn't Jack? "This is a lot more complicated than I expected it to be."

"You and me both, brother. You and me both." Jack got up from the steps, dusting off his rump. "I'm going back in for some more coffee. You coming?"

*****

"Dana," Noah exclaimed as he came back in the dining room. "You wouldn't believe the kitchen. It's as clean as a whistle and there's no sign of Mrs. Babineaux. It was spooky."

"I've been saying all along that she was one of Oscar's ghosts,”Dana answered with a grin. "While you're up, toss me another beignet." Her smile dimmed a bit when she caught sight of the brooding expression on Jack's face. Whatever had been said between them on the back steps appeared to have eased Noah's mind. It seemed to have had the opposite affect on Jack, however.

"I was surprised to see that Austin came down for breakfast," Josie said, as Noah seated himself next to her. "Neither of them bothered yesterday." She looked with some surprise at all of the blank stares. "I saw him heading down the hall from this direction. Wasn't he coming from here?"

"Maybe he started to and heard we were all still in here. Those two sure aren't inclined to socialize," Henry said and shook his head. "I don't think all of their Easter eggs got colored."

It was Josie's turn for a blank stare. Noah leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Oh, I get it now," Josie said.

Rose watched as Dana studied the sugar bowl with a thoughtful air. "I've noticed you doing that before. Look at things like you know what you are looking at. Is there something special about that bowl?"

"I believe it's a Lamente’sheen sugar bowl."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that it's probably worth about six-hundred dollars."

Rose stared at her, momentarily speechless. "You lie!" Dana simply shrugged. "Come on up to my room. There's something I want you to take a look at."

Rose led the way upstairs and turned down the hall to her room with Dana trailing behind her. Flicking on the light, she said, "It's there on the wall."

But it was the floor, not the wall that caught Dana's attention. "Oh my God,”she breathed reverently as she dropped to her knees by the bed. She stroked the faded yet still lovely rug cushioning the floor under the bed. "It's a Dubisson."

"Are you kidding me? I've heard of those. I've never seen one though. Are you sure?"

"I think so. My mum was the expert, she was nuts for antiques, but I did manage to pick up a few things from her." Dana looked at Rose wide-eyed. "Rose, Oscar can't know this is up here."

"What makes you say that?"

"I'm not sure exactly how old this rug is, but I've seen Dubissons’of this era sell online for twenty-five to even seventy thousand dollars. If it was you, would you want to take a chance on one of your guests sneaking a smoke and burning a hole in seventy grand?"

"Hell, no! Okay, what about the mirror on the wall?" Rose pointed to the reason she had brought Dana to her room to begin with.

Dana looked up from her perusal of the rug. She smiled. "That's a Granera painted mirror. Pretty old, too. That alone is probably worth fifteen-hundred." She shook her head in amazement. "Oscar has mentioned a couple of times about money being tight. I keep meaning to tell him about the furnishings, but I've never found the right time."

"Well, what