Page 40 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“Are you sure? That dirt spot seems quite tough. Would you like me to take a hand at it?”

I turned around, craning my neck back to look up into his face and the wry humor therein. “I think I’ve done an okay job cleaning so far,” I pointed out. “If I can get that stupid carved dragon statue thingy you had clean, then a simple wall should be nothing.”

“Dragon statue?” he asked.

“Yes. The thing with a million nooks and crannies,” I said, pointing at his bedside table. “Looks nothing like you, either. Weighs a ton. Pain in my ass to clean. None of the dirt wanted to come out. No idea why I spent so much effort on it.”

Except that wasn’t true. It’d clearly been important to young Cade. So, like everything else in the room, I’d given it extra attention. And nearly lost my temper doing so. For a piece of wood, it was heavy.

“I don’t recall having a wooden dragon,” he mumbled mostly to himself, going to pick up the statue.

“Careful. It’s not light,” I said as he reached for the neck with one hand.

Glancing back at me in acknowledgment, he used both hands, lifting it from the table.

“What the hell?” he said. “You’re right. It’s heavy.”

“You’d think wood sitting here for so long would be dried out by now.”

“Yes, you would,” Cade said slowly, turning the statue over. “I still don’t recognize it, either.”

“So, why is it in here?”

He shrugged. “No idea. But I suspect it’s not wood. It’s too heavy.”

“I didn’t see an opening.”

“Me neither,” he said, looking it over again. “Me neither …”

“You think someone put it here for a reason?”

Cade shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. But I can tell you it’s not mine. Everything else was, I recognize it. So, why is this here?”

“What are you going to do? Break it open?” I asked.

“Yes.”

And he squeezed with both hands. The wood splintered and came apart, falling to the floor in shards as he pulled it away to reveal what was inside.

“Well, that was about the last thing I expected,” Cade said with remarkable calm as he held up the fist-sized nugget that had been within.

“That is gold, right?” I asked slowly, staring.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, it is.”

“I guess you’re getting me a bed sooner than expected,” I said with a laugh. “To the trader!”

Cade shook his head.

“What? Why not?” I asked. “You aren’t planning on hoarding it away in a cave somewhere, are you? Please tell me that’s not your plan.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “No! Not at all. It’s just that this is too much for his setup.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We’re going back to the home isle,” he said. “The traders there can handle this.”

“Road trip!” I exclaimed.

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