Land of Ice and Snow [Cairngorm Dragons 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF Page B

nestling his face in her hair and breathing in the scent of his woman.

Chapter Five
     
    Morning came all too soon. Lachlann awoke to find Sigourney still cuddled close to him. He woke her with tender kisses.
    “My love, you must wake up and go back to your own room. It’s not right you should be found here with me.”
    “Mmm I don’t want to wake up. I want to stay here forever.”
    He chuckled. “So do I, love, but we can’t. You must go back now, and when I return, then we can have the ceremonies and be betrothed and all the things your mother wants for you.” He slapped her smartly on her delicious little behind. When she didn’t move, he did it again. She wriggled and offered her bottom for more.
    “So you like that, do you? Well, I shall be happy to indulge you when we are wed or when I come back from this quest. Now get up and go…”
    At last she got up, dressed in her nightgown and robe, and leaned down to kiss him. That was almost his undoing. Her tongue slipped in between his lips as if they’d been lovers for more than one night. It seemed perfectly natural to him to seize her and ravish her mouth. She giggled as he pressed her to him. Then he regained control, swatted her behind, and she went to the door, blowing him kisses as she first listened, then cautiously opened the door, slipping silently into the corridor and away to her own room.
     
    * * * *
     
    Breaking their fast was a sombre affair. Sigourney hardly ate anything in spite of Lachlann’s urging her. He knew she was hungry but so upset that nothing would tempt her to eat.
    “I could swallow nothing,” she said. She did manage to drink a glass of goat’s milk that her mother pressed on her. Then it was time to take Lachlann to the mountain. She would fly with him and requested that no others accompany them. Helga was about to say something, but Lachlann sent her such a scorching look that she obviously thought better of it. Lachlann changed to his dragon-form and was amused to see how the majority drew well back from him. Sigourney changed, too, and together they took off and flew to the lower slopes of Galdhopiggen. She was to wait on the peak for him, so she took off and settled on the snowy mountain side.
    Lachlann changed to his human-form as he was not too sure just how much space there would be in the caverns under the earth. He supposed that the old dragon had a way to get out so he could hunt and eat but didn’t expect to find it easily. He’d been told where the entrance to the cavern was to be found. He clambered over the rocks and found it. He looked up to where his mate sat and waited. Raising his broadsword, he saluted her, and then he plunged into the cave. With the tinderbox, he lit one of the torches Axl had provided him with and set off to find the old one.
    Lachlann walked along the tunnel. The flickering light from the brand enabled him to see well enough to walk, but his dragon senses were on the alert to catch the faintest wisp of thought. To start with, he caught nothing. Coming to a fork, the tunnel went left and right. He stood very still and waited. There it was, the faintest echo of a… was it a snore? He supposed that the old one must spend a lot of his time dozing, if he was anything like the old ones of the Clan. He turned left and proceeded with caution down the tunnel. He didn’t want to startle the old dragon. The gods knew how he’d react. He felt a tendril of thought reach out to him. In it he read suspicion and fear. He returned soothing thoughts of friendship and the promise of no threat. Cautiously he picked his way along the tunnel for another ten minutes. The tunnel came out into a huge cavern. The feeble light of his brand was not a great deal of use to judge the height of it. He heard a warning, rumbling growl from the other side of the cave. Lachlann changed to his dragon-form and saw the old one. He was crouched at the other extremity of the space. He was green and gold, but his scales were