Searching For Treasure

chapter 2

"I thought I heard people out here. Welcome." The handsome old gentleman gazed around the group in front of him as if counting heads. "I do believe we are expecting a couple more. But please, feel free to come on in."

After a bit of fumbling, the gate was unlocked and one by one the visitors entered. One of the men that Henry Hudson had identified as treasure hunters shouldered past the others and pumped their host's hand vigorously.

"The name is Brett Murphy. And this is my associate, Austin Jones. Mister, I hope you were serious about that treasure."

Brett, who had an English accent, looked like the stereotypical favorite uncle, except for the glint of avarice in his eyes. He continued to shake hands, but his eyes constantly flitted around as if expecting the treasure to be right there in front of him. Austin was good-looking in a brutish, bad-boy kind of way that many women found attractive. Not Dana. She had often wondered why some women found dangerous-looking men to be so appealing.

"My name is Oscar Gaston," replied the older man, slightly taken aback. "I know what you're probably thinking. French name, no accent. Well, I was raised in the south of England."

"Fascinating. But, the treasure?" Brett asked impatiently.

Dana looked at Jack and rolled her eyes. There's one in every group, her expression said.

Oscar looked at the two men in front of him. Brett was staring at him too intently and he especially didn't like the hard, calculating glint in Austin's eyes. He cleared his throat nervously. "Oh, there are many stories about treasure surrounding this castle, as well as stories about ghosts. But, I cannot guarantee that you will discover either one."

Austin spoke for the first time. "But we are free to look, for the treasure that is." It was a statement, not a question. It was spoken in an arrogant, challenging way that immediately put Dana's back up.

"Err, within reason, of course. Now please, I have not met the rest of you fine people." Introductions were made all around. They all trooped forward to deposit their luggage on the wide front porch flanked by fluted columns.

"I wouldn't drop them too hard," grumbled Austin to no one in particular, "they're liable to go right through."

"The castle is perfectly safe I assure you. Structurally sound. I know it doesn't look like much on the outside, but it is clean and is in reasonably good repair. I've seen to that. And you will be glad to know I have acquired the most wonderful cook who will have you drooling over her cuisine," Oscar said.

Finally, everyone entered the front door. Although it was nowhere near the grandness of the olden glory days, it was clean and appeared to be freshly painted. It was obvious that Oscar had concentrated his repairs to the inside of the castle. The sound of an approaching car had Noah glancing out the door.

"There's someone coming," Noah said.

Oscar smiled. "That must be the rest of our little group."

"Yoo-hoo, we're here!" Charging through the door were two bright and cheerful bundles of female energy. Both ladies were probably in their late- fifties or early sixties, sporting nearly identical short haircuts, wearing colorful vacation garb and bursting with such vitality that Jack felt old in comparison.

The first one through the door launched into an apology. "Sorry we're late, but my friend here won't let me drive, so that tends to slow us down. Although,”she said turning to her companion, "I am a perfectly safe driver." It was obviously an old argument.

"My driving is good enough for the both of us," said the other woman. She pushed up her bracelets and held out her hand to the first person she came to, which happened to be Henry. "Hi, Rose from Virginia. Timmons is the last name. My friend here is Grace. Grace Braise."

Henry took her hand as if he was afraid it would go off in his. "Henry Hudson."

"Oklahoma,”said Rose

"How could you tell?" he asked.

"My great-grandmother,”she replied, as if that should explain everything.

Grace attempted to enlighten him. "She has a knack for dialects. She's hardly ever wrong. Oh my, will you look at this place."

Rose poked Grace in the arm. "See, now isn't this better than going to see an old whorehouse in the Midwest?"

Grace walked to the middle of the hallway with her hands outstretched, palms down, and began turning around in a slow circle with her eyes closed. She seemed to be humming.

Rose chuckled. "You'll get used to her. She's from New York."

"I'm trying to commune with the spirits," Grace said.

"Spirits don't usually commune in the middle of the afternoon, Grace."

Grace opened one eye. If it's possible to cast a baleful glance with one eye shut, then she did it.

Within a couple of minutes, Grace and Rose had either totally charmed or bemused everyone around them, with the possible exception of Austin, who appeared supremely bored. Henry, 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 you alone." Jack stopped on his way out of the door. "I don't like that Austin character."

"You and me both. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with D and that stands for Austin," Dana said.

Jack laughed. "I mean I don't like the way he looked at you."

Dana glanced up in surprise at the edge of protectiveness she sensed in Jack's voice. He knew better than anyone that she could handle the Austin Jones’of the world. She said as much and was surprised even more when Jack's frown deepened. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. It was a habit that Dana knew meant he had something on his mind, and he didn't know how to say it. Instead he sighed and glanced at the floor for a moment. When he finally said something, it flabbergasted her.

"I think I see a romance brewing," he said grinning.

Dana's eyes widened in surprise and a flutter in her stomach overtook her that she couldn't account for. "W-What?"

Jack looked at her oddly. "Noah and Josie. You must have noticed."

Dana laughed weakly, feeling foolish. "Oh, that... Yeah, I noticed."

Jack cocked his head. "Who did you think I meant?"

Dana wasn't about to embarrass herself by saying what crazy thought had popped into her head. "Uh, I thought you meant me and Austin."

"Hell, no!" he said, grimacing.

"Well, why do you think I looked so surprised," she fibbed.

"Huh." Jack looked at her with an expression she couldn't read and that worried her. They'd known each other too long, and knew each other too well... They had no secrets.

"See you at dinner, Jack."

Jack seemed to want to say something else, but he shook his head and left. Dana gathered a few things and went in search of the bathroom she had seen earlier. This was evidently a more recent addition to the castle, but she couldn't tell what part of the original it had replaced.

Dana studied herself in the mirror, wondering, not for the first time, what was wrong with her. Not prone to superstition, she nonetheless wondered if there was a cloud of doom hanging over this weekend.

A budding romance between a paying guest–her brother–and the owner's great-niece could create problems. There was the young Mark and his crush on her. There was Austin and his obnoxious attitude. There were these strange thoughts and feelings she'd been having lately. And then there was the unreadable expression in Jack's eyes that had bewildered her.

"Well, hell,”she muttered to herself as she went down the stairs.