Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,4

however, looked like he was in a trance.

"Um, Uncle Oscar, I think I've got all of the rooms ready." Everyone turned in unison to look up the stairs to the source of the angelic voice. At the first landing was a very pretty redhead teenager standing shyly above them, wearing white short-shorts and a pink t-shirt with tie-dyed splotches.

"Everyone, I want you to meet my great-niece, Josie. She has been kindly helping me out this summer before she goes off to make the family proud at University."

Her gaze darted around quickly to each person in turn, until she finally set them on Noah. She blushed before looking away again. "Hey,”she greeted them softly.

Jack looked at the spark of interest on Noah's face and gave Dana an unobtrusive jab with his elbow. Dana nodded, knowing exactly what he was thinking. Just Noah's type…

"Josie, why don't you show these folks their rooms? I'm sure by the time all of you get settled, dinner will be ready."

"Okay." Josie walked down the stairs to stand in front of Noah. "Hi."

"Hi." Noah roused himself with some effort. "Hi, I'm Noah. This is my sister, Dana. And, this is Jack."

"Dana, will you and Jack be sharing a room?" she asked.

"Oh no, Jack's my best friend. We don't share rooms," Dana replied feeling unaccountably flustered. This wasn't the first time someone had made this same assumption. She and Jack often laughed about it. But this was the first time the question had bothered her. And for some reason, she was unable to meet Jack's gaze. What the hell is wrong with me?

Jack, wondering the same thing, added, "Noah and I will be sharing a room."

"Oh... Are you two, um-?" Josie asked.

Turning beet-red, Noah shouted, "No! I mean, Jack's a friend, a family friend, you know, one of the family?"

"Oh, okay,”she said, turning red herself. "How many of you were planning to share a room?"

Besides Jack and Noah, Grace and Rose; Henry and Mark; Brett and Austin, all planned to bunk together. Dana found herself odd-man-out, and agreed to take the smallest room at the top of the stairs. Josie explained that it had originally been an old schoolmaster’s room adjoining the nursery.

Dana reached for her suitcase to take upstairs and found that Mark Hudson had reached for it first. "I'll take that for you Miss Parker," said the teenager shyly in his soft drawl.

Dana smiled her thanks, aware that she was seeing a slight case of puppy love on the boy's face. This wasn't new for her. She'd had to deal with a few of these before, among Noah's friends. It was a fine line that had to be treaded between being sensitive to the young man's feelings and not encouraging his affection. Her smile turned to a frown; however, Austin reached out and grabbed the case away from Mark.

"Forget it, little boy. I'm taking it up," Austin said in a strong, south London accent. Mark flushed but said nothing. Austin smirked at Dana in what he obviously thought was a God's-gift-to-women way. "Consider this my good deed for the day."

With a glare, Dana took the bag herself. "I don't think so."

"Well, well, instant dislike. That's a novel experience for me," Austin said.

"Somehow,”Dana said as she brushed past him, "I doubt that."

Josie had been watching the byplay, worriedly biting her lip, as if she was afraid of a situation developing that she wouldn't know how to handle. She relaxed slightly when Dana grinned at her and winked.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I'll take you up now,”Josie said.

They headed upstairs and once Josie indicated which room was Dana's, Dana peeled off from the rest of the group. She tossed her bag onto a lovely old four-poster bed. In fact, she was still studying the bed when Jack knocked on the door.

"I noticed you doing that downstairs. What are you searching for?" he asked.

"Just looking." She paused. "This bed is a Gaussier Ballard."

"So?"

"So I wonder if Mr. Gaston knows what it's worth."

"Do you?" he asked with a smile.

"Not exactly, but I think it's worth quite a bit. If he does know, he's taking a big chance letting tourists sleep on something so old and valuable."

"Or maybe he's got tons of money and doesn't care."

"Maybe."

"Uh-oh, I know that look. It's not your business, D."

Dana grinned mischievously. "But wouldn't it be funny if everyone went out searching for treasure, only to find out we'd been sleeping on it the whole time."

"Are you going to unpack now?" Jack asked. Dana nodded. "I'll leave