Warrior's Heart

Chapter Three

Thorin rubbed his eyes as he stepped out into the twilight. Arielle led him along a narrow path, and he heard the rush of water as they neared a low stone wall. "I'm sorry, princess. I did not mean to upset her so terribly."

"She will be fine, love. There is no need to beat yourself up. I've made her cry plenty of times since we arrived here." She sighed as she sank onto the wall and looked up at him. "I cannot believe you are actually here."

"Believe it," he stepped up to the wall, nudging her knees apart to wedge his hips in between them, "for I am actually here."

She looked up at him. "I missed you, dwarf. You have no idea how much."

"I do have an idea," he replied, catching her face in his hands. He'd forgotten how soft her skin was, how it begged to be touched, and as he let his thumbs trail along her cheekbones, her eyes caught and held his. They were even greener than he remembered. Greener and wider and as fathomless as an ocean. "I'd forgotten how beautiful you are, Arielle. So absolutely beautiful."

"Thorin..."

"I love you." He tilted her face slightly to meet his. "Do you know that, princess? Have you any idea how much I love you?"

"Show me."

He smiled and bent to kiss her. Her lips were just as soft and sweet as he remembered. Her fingers tightened about his wrists, her lips parting, her breath hitching as his tongue touched hers. His entire body tightened against her, his blood heating as he nudged closer to her. When he came into contact with her, he couldn't hold back his soft moan. It was the first time since the night before she left for Mirkwood that he felt her thighs press against his sides, that he felt her heat beckoning him.

He released her face to wrap her in his arms, to pull her completely against him. The firm mounds of her breasts against his chest made him sigh into her mouth. Her hands flattened against his back, but then she tugged up his tunic to slip them beneath it. He shuddered at the first touch. He couldn't help it.

He broke the kiss to sweep his lips along her cheekbone, up toward her temple, and breathed, "Oh, love... I have missed you, too." He nuzzled her, reveled in the silkiness of her hair as it spilled down her back, caught her earlobe between gentle teeth as he added, "I want you, Arielle. I bloody well ache with wanting you."

"There are many eyes out here," she whispered back, threading her fingers through his hair, letting her fingernails gaze his scalp. "Even if we cannot see them, they are there. Thranduíl has a difficult enough time with the notion of my having had your child. It might kill him to have one of his spies report back how they watched us make love."

"I honestly do not care at the moment." He drew back to smile at her. "We should go back to our chambers, Arielle."

"We can't just yet." She caught his hands in hers. "We should probably go and make certain the others haven't driven Thranduíl completely mad yet."

He groaned, pressing his forehead to hers. "I am not so certain I care about that."

"You will if they have."

"You are a hard woman, she-elf."

"Not always." She smiled up at him in a way that made his heart completely melt. "I won't be later. I promise you."

He bit back another groan. His princess knew how to tease him, how to make him feel like not just the King Under the Mountain, but the king of all Middle Earth. She knew how to touch him, how to tease him with just words, until he thought he'd go mad because he couldn't have her.

Even now, she stood and slid her arms about his waist, her head coming to rest against his chest as she murmured, "But I promise you, you will be a hard man, dwarf."