"I'm also only twenty damn years old and have to go around giving orders to all these older people. All I'd need is to have them hear you calling me Tuck."

"Don't they know your name's Tucker?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Nobody uses my last name over there, but they all know Janice is my stepmother. Maybe they think my name's Crogan."

"She should've changed her name when she married your dad."

"Would you change your name to Tucker?"

"If I married a guy named Tucker."

"Anyway, she didn't. Just don't call me Tuck in front of the employees, okay?"

"You don't call me Moose, I won't call you Tuck."

"I never called you Moose."

"Right. You preferred Bullwinkle."

"Okay, I won't call you Bullwinkle. I promise. Nothing but Dana. Or Miss Lake, if I have to berate you for doing something stupid."

"Would I do something stupid?"

"Oh, not you."

"So," Dana said, "what should I call you?"

"Boss lady."

Dana cracked up, and Tuck grinned. She waited for Dana's laughter to subside, then said, "Lynn would be fine."

Nodding, Dana lifted her cup. Steam drifted off the dark surface of the coffee. She blew it gently away, then took a sip. "Mm, good."

"Do you want something to eat?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Good. We don't have much time. We can grab a bite at the snack shop after we get there. Or we can stop for doughnuts on the way. Are you still a doughnut hound?"

"You bet," Dana said. "But I'm not that hungry right now. I don't usually eat much in the morning."

"About ready to go?"

"Yep. You said to be ready by nine. I've been ready since I walked in." She took another sip of coffee, then another.

"Take your time. We don't have to rush off right away. I'm the boss, after all."

"Yeah, but you shouldn't be late."

"Even if we don't get there till nine-thirty, I'll still be the first one to arrive. Nobody's all that gung-ho. It's just a job to them, you know?"

"What is it to you?"

"A passion!"

Dana laughed. "Right."

"Do you want the truth?"

"If you're up to it."

"I love it all. I really do. I love being the boss..."

"You've always been great at giving orders."

"It isn't just that, either. There's something about Beast House. It's got history, you know? An awful history, but...There's something sort of old and romantic and mysterious about the place. I just love it there. It's like a strange little piece of the past is still alive...I mean, you can feel it."

"If you say so."

"Did you feel it yesterday?"

"Mosdy, I just felt a little spooked."

Tuck grinned. "Good. You're supposed to. But after you get used to the place, it probably won't seem so creepy anymore."

"Probably?"

"Well, it actually seems to get worse instead of better for some people. That's pretty rare, though."

"I hope that doesn't happen to me."

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Me, I like the place more all the time."

"Someday, maybe it'll be yours."

"I ain't gonna hold my breath," Tuck said.

"You're Janice's only heir, aren't you?"

"Well, shit, I guess so. She doesn't have any brothers or sisters, and you know what happened to her parents." Tuck frowned as if thinking about it for a few moments, then said, "Other than Dad and me, she's got nobody else except an uncle and cousin. But Janice is just in her thirties, for godsake. I doubt if she'll be pitching forward on her nose in the near future. Besides which, she might even have a kid of her own someday."

"She hasn't so far."

"Yeah, but she's only been married for a couple of years."

"She's how old?"

Tuck frowned for a moment, then said, "Thirty-six."

"Well, that's not terribly old to be starting a family."

"For all I know, she might already be knocked up. And if she's not, she probably will be by the time they get back from the cruise. I mean, two months together in the South Pacific? I damn near get pregnant just thinking about it."

"Have they been trying to have a baby?" Dana asked.

"Jeez! How would I know? She's a great gal and everything and we really like each other, but it's not like being with you. She my dad's wife. I mean, I can't just ask her about stuff like that." Tuck raised her eyebrows. "Do you want any more coffee?"

"Nope, I'm fine."

"Maybe we'd better get going." She reached across the table for Dana's cup. "I'll rinse these out and batten down the hatches. You might want to grab your windbreaker. You never know when the fog'll come rolling in. It can get pretty nippy."

Five minutes later, Dana followed Tuck into the three-car garage. They walked past the eighteen foot cabin cruiser, then past a Mercedes, before climbing into the red Jeep Wrangler.

"I don't know how you can stand living in such squalor," Dana said.

"It's tough." As the automatic door rolled upward, Tuck started the Jeep's engine. "I'll probably have to move out if I ever get married."

"Don't get married. No guy would be worth it."

"Nobody I know," Tuck said. Laughing, she backed out of the garage.

As she turned the Jeep around, Dana gazed at the front of the house. With its many outside stairways, its passageways and balconies, the enormous stucco house looked more like a nice hotel than . like a private home. "It's really fabulous," she said.

"Amazing what you can do with a few million bucks, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't mind living in a place like this."

"You are living in a place like this," Tuck said. "All summer." She aimed the remote over her shoulder. As the garage door started to close, she put the remote away and headed down the long, narrow driveway.

The morning air blew Dana's hair. She took deep breaths. She could smell the woods and the ocean.

Though the area immediately in front of the house was bright with sunlight, the driveway soon took them into thick woods. There, in shadows as heavy as dusk, the rays of the sun looked like golden pillars slanting down through the trees. Haze drifted like smoke in the gold.

Dana smiled at Tuck, and shook her head.

"Not exactly like Los Angeles, is it?" Tuck asked.

"Not exactly. I can't believe I'll be spending the whole summer here."

"Neither can I. Man, am I ever glad you could come."

"You're glad!"

"You bet I am." Tuck picked up speed on the downhill. She took the curves awfully fast.

Too fast for Dana's taste.

Even with the seatbelt on, Dana felt her body being shoved from side to side as they raced around the bends.

It's okay, she told herself. Tuck knows what she's doing. She's probably driven in.and out of this place thousands of times.

Tuck glanced at her and grinned, then faced the front again. Her long, blond hair was streaming behind her in the breeze. "We're gonna have a great time," she said.

"I hope so."

If she doesn 't slam us into a tree.

"And you know what?" Tuck asked. "I couldn't have stayed home this summer if you hadn't agreed to come."

"What? What do you mean?"

"They were all set to drag me along with them on their damn cruise."

"Oh, that would've been a fate worse than death." , "I hate cruises. Yuck!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Have you ever gone on one?"

"No."

"just wait." Some hair blew across her face. She fingered it out of the way with one hand while she steered around a curve with the other. "It's like being on a floating prison full of chipper weirdos. But Dad didn't want me staying here alone. So I'd be out somewhere on the briny sea, right now, if you hadn't come to stay. I owe you bigtime."

Shrugging, Dana said, "I'm sure you could've gotten somebody else."

"I didn't want anyone else. You're my best friend. Besides, you're the only person Dad would've agreed to. It was you or nobody."

"How come?"

"Hell, don't ask me. He likes you. He trusts you. He thinks you're a regular Girl Scout."

"I've got him fooled."

Tuck smiled at her. "No you don't. He's right."

"Aw, shucks."

"Anyway, I thought you should know. It's not like I'm doing you all the big favors. You're doing a major one for me just by being here."

"Why don't you do me a favor and slow down?"

"This is nothing. You wanta see me really go fast?"

"That's all right. Some other time. When I'm not in the car, for instance."

"All right, all right." Tuck eased her foot down on the brake pedal, and the Jeep slowed down.

"Thank you," Dana said.