She faded in and out of consciousness, but there was little she could make out in the darkness. All she could hear at times were the grunts and growls her captor made. It seemed to have picked her up at some point and appeared to be carrying her deeper into the tunnels that had been dog deep beneath Erebor…

Shobha climbed up the narrow ladder up to the bridge, squinting in the bright sunlight. It was only six in the morning and already baking hot.

"You know, I meant I wanted to learn how to sail, not navigate a motor from one Mediterranean port to another!" She laughed.

"I didn't hear you complain when we stopped for a couple of days in Nice…" Mike winked at her. "Look baby, I know you're great with the dinghy sailing, but that's the Thames. The open seas are much more unpredictable. And sails are hard work…"

He checked the monitor and lowered their speed, before beckoning for her to take over.

"You need a holiday, not to spend it working the sails all the time. And: Think of this as testing out your sea legs." He ran his hands over the bare skin of her shoulders, as she took over. He had far more creative ways of how she might expend her energy instead. They were covering ground fast, and would make it Sardinia sooner than he anticipated, which was good. It would give him time to prepare. He was due to meet a high profile client there, and although the meeting had been booked for weeks, she believed he was taking her on a sailing holiday, so to keep up the ruse he hadn't packed a sharp suit. A couple of days in Mote Carlo would fix that. And it would be disguised as a shopping trip, where he would buy her a few nice dresses. Although he meant it when he said she would look gorgeous even in a bin bag. And he hoped a nice piece of jewellery would distract her when he broke the news that his office had called asking for an impromptu meeting.

She rolled her eyes as he opened a bottle of water and took a few sips.

What he believed that she didn't realise was, he fully intended to have his cake and eat it. She was his arm candy: A perfect plus one for a client dinner. Even if she hated it at the time, he was sure she would forgive him soon enough, because she was also soft and sweet.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, little lady…" he moved closer, wrapping his arm around her waist, and slipping a hand up just under her vest. "Or I might have to teach you a lesson…"

The yacht suddenly sped up.

"I don't think so this time. I'm steering now." She laughed at him.

He groaned in return, unable to help himself from smiling back before reaching out over her hand and pulling the throttle back to cut the speed a bit more. There would still be enough time to drop anchor for a quick swim and for him to enjoy her out here in the open, without the risk of prying eyes.

"You're just getting upset because it's early and you're too hot, honey." He whispered in her ear. "How about we get closer to shore so we can have a little dip… no need for a swimsuit…"

A metallic jarring sound interrupted her thoughts out of nowhere –

And she jolted awake to find herself on the cold stone floor in complete darkness. Afraid of that thing being nearby, she remained completely still, trying to steady her breathing as she strained her ears hard to hear anything. Her head throbbed and felt fuzzy, she wasn't sure whether it was from having knocked her head, or from dehydration. Her mouth felt parched, she could only wonder how long she had been down there.

It seemed she was indeed on her own down there, for now. Moving her hand up to reach for the head light on her hat, but it seemed she had lost it somewhere along the way.

As she moved her arm, the metallic jarring noise became much more apparent: she had been chained to something by her right wrist! Reaching down to feel for the belt, as she remembered what Bofur had mentioned about a spare torch attached to it, it jangled further. To make matters worse, the belt was gone too!

She yanked a few times on her chain, but it was firmly secured. So she lay there again, trying to figure out how to escape.

What could this creature possibly want from her? And even if she did escape, how could she find her way back? Surely she would never find her way back out of this labyrinth of tunnels.

Suddenly she could hear the distant sound of footsteps, so she lay back and closed her eyes, feigning unconsciousness again. Hopefully, it would find she wasn't awake and leave her alone.

Within short moments the footsteps had reached her.

"Shobha…? Shobha! Oh thank Mahal!" A familiar deep voice whispered above her, as a large calloused hand brushed her hair from her face. "She's here!"

A second set of footsteps approached this time, they appeared to be carrying a dim light.

"Aye, lets get her out of here then Thorin –"

"She's been chained." He continued to check the rest of her body as she opened her eyes, now certain it was Thorin and Dwalin. "Shobha!"

"Please – get me out of here. There's something down here with us! There was a spanner at the tunnel by the generator –"

"I know… Bofur informed us," he stroked her cheek gently, helping her slowly sit up. "Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?"

"No! No! Is he ok? It dragged me down here – I – I must have lost consciousness at some point… I woke up here, like this." She clung onto his strong arms holding out her chained wrist. "Please hurry – before it comes back…"

But before she could say anything more, Dwalin's enormous axe had swung down striking against the chain, and after three or four blows, she was scooped up into the arms of Thorin and was rapidly carried back out of the tunnels. They seemed to know their way around the labyrinth, with no hesitation as to which turn to take. And soon they were back in the great golden cave, she'd she was carried past Bofur and his engineers who were deep in conversation with a group of Dwalin's security men. They peered over their shoulders, casting worried and apologetic looks in her direction.

But Thorin didn't stop.

He carried on past them all, and out into the open, where he walked straight to his black SUV, and Dwalin opened the back door, giving Thorin the chance to set her down on the back seat. It was dark outside, so she could only imagine she had been in those tunnels for sometime.

"Thorin, please… I think that thing jammed the generator on purpose –" she grasped at his hand hoping he would listen to what she had to say.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Bofur said the spanner wasn't theirs and a belt had come off causing the failure. But we both heard it suddenly halt."

"And that's when you were captured?" He pulled a blanket from the back and wrapped her up, as she nodded in agreement. Looking over his shoulder once more, he then looked back at her worried. "Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head feeling disorientated.

"Bofur lost you in the tunnels even though he tried to follow you. We were searching for almost ten hours without any luck."

She watched him, as he tried hard to hide the pained look from his features.

Was he actually worried about her?

"Here. Drink." He shoved a bottle of water into her hands. "And stay in the car while I instruct the security team –"

"Please don't leave me alone." She suddenly clung to him, unreservedly, as her head swam with dizziness and fear. "Please…That thing might still be there!"

To her surprise, he pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her hair reassuringly as he held her close.

"I won't leave you alone, little one. I promise…" he whispered into her hair, holding her for a little before pulling away again slowly. He spoke softly to her, as if addressing a horse that had been traumatised and was ready to bolt again. "We need to get you back to the Manor and get you rested. But I need to speak with Bofur and the security team for a few minutes. I promise I will not take any longer –"

"I'll wait with ya lass," Dwalin's familiar voice sounded from behind him, to which Thorin nodded turning to his cousin and patting him on the shoulder in silent gratitude. Then he wrapped her back up in the blanket, stroking her cheek with his hand before getting out of the back seat, only for Dwalin to seamlessly move in and shut the door, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pull her over to lean on him. "There ya go lass, yer safe with old uncle Dwalin. Why don't ya try and shut yer eyes for a bit. We'll be back home sooner than ye know then…"

….

She awoke back in the giant bed of the royal suites and lay there trying to orientate herself in the dim light. A soft snoring arose intermittently, that drew her gaze over to the side of the bed, where in a large padded armchair, Thorin slept. His head leant against the large backrest slightly awkwardly, but otherwise he looked completely relaxed.

Her body felt stiff, and her skin stung in places where it had been grazed by the stone in the tunnels after being dragged.

Keeping as quiet as she could, she shuffled over to the edge of the bed, pain stinging her every move. Her head still felt fuzzy, but she was quite desperate for a drink now.

"I think it's rather ambitious to try and be up on your feet immediately, do you not Miss Seth?" He startled her before her feet could even touch the floor. "What do you wish for?"

She drew her feet back up again, turning to catch him striding around the giant bed fast towards her.

"Some water would be lovely please…"

"Aye." He strode past to a small side table and returned with a glass, which she gladly took and drank.

"Oin imagined you may have been quite dehydrated. We didn't drink much at the cottage, and you had a mild fever that night, probably because you were drenched." He poured her another glass and handed it to her without asking this time. Then he watched her deep in thought, concern clouding his sapphire orbs. He paused quietly, and then taking a deep breath as if he had an important announcement to make he began. "Miss Seth, I am sorry you have had such a terrible weekend. I feel at least in part responsible… but I fear –"

"First of all, please don't call me 'Miss Seth'…" she interrupted him handing her glass back, which he took and began filling once more. "I think by now, you can call me Shobha – and I promise that won't mean I expect you to marry me or father my unborn children… although I imagine you have more than thought about it by now…"

He suddenly knocked the glasses over at that point, scrambling to grab a towel from nearby and mop up the spillage quickly.

"I… well… it would be most improper!" He gave her a side long glance, and for once he appeared flustered.

"Gosh! Relax! I was making a joke." She lifted her hands up in defeat.

"Aye," he turned away taking the towel in to, what she imagined was the attached en suite. After a few minutes he returned back appearing more composed and resumed to pour her another glass and hand it back. "Well… in truth if you had done as you were told none of this would have come to pass."

She paused to finish her water before responding. As annoyed as she felt, she was far too exhausted to argue.

"If you want me to go back home, then just say so and I will be gone, Thorin." She didn't want to look up, afraid of what she might see revealed in his face. "But lets be completely honest. There is more going on here than it has to do with me. I don't know what happened before I arrived in Erebor, but whatever is going on has nothing to do with me."

"That maybe so, but you keep putting yourself in dangerous situations. This is not a place for you to be exploring to your hearts desire." He sounded angrier this time. "This is not the city. And it's not your place to investigate the goings on around here – you already have a paid job, the last I checked."

"Shame, because I am probably doing a better job than whoever you have trying to figure out what's going on." She muttered falling back into the soft pillows and drawing a sharp breath, feeling all the cuts, bruises and scrapes that must have covered her body.

He seemed to make a soft groaning noise, followed by a huff and a loud sigh.

"I do not mean you need to leave…" he blew out a breath he had been holding again.

"It's fine. Like I said, I can't lead a life where I stay imprisoned in that house, only going to work –"

"But I thought you have a routine: you go to lunch with my nephews, you meet my sister each week…"

It surprised her that he seemed to know so much about her mundane routine.

"Yeah…" she sighed and rolled over feeling stiff and sore. He wouldn't understand anyway, why would he? In his world women probably meant something else to him. She just needed to take a holiday.

"What is it…? I don't understand – do you mean to say you are unhappy…" he sat on the bed and leant over cupping his hand under her chin and gently turning her to face him. This time he observed her face a softness had fallen across his rugged features, and he continued to watch her.

She couldn't help but stare back, it was all so intimate, and not something either of them had clearly expected. It was hard for her to imagine it was even something he wanted from how he had behaved all those times towards her.

"No – of course Fili and Kili and Dis have been wonderful… but I need more than this. A trip to Dale maybe… my parents want to visit… I feel a little isolated at times…" she admitted quietly pulling herself up the bed away from him. It had been almost a year since she walked away from Mike. The realisation that he never truly loved her had left her unable to truly trust herself, or anyone else for that matter. Not when she had spent five years believing they would live happily ever after. That's when she had taken up running. "I like to run… outside… I… sometimes need that…"

It felt hard opening up to him. But it was true. Sometimes her thoughts felt as though they suffocated her. And the only way to get rid of them was to run. As far as she could. Run until she her chest ached and she couldn't think anymore. She watched him, as he remained where he was on the bed, leaning towards her but no longer touching her after she had pulled back away from him. His touch burned her skin and his closeness was more than she could handle right now. It wasn't the desire she shied away from, it was the intimacy. The openness. She had felt vulnerable in that tunnel… and before that, when that thing broke into her room. But trusting herself, to trust someone else again just seemed too much right now. Running was easier.

"Shobha, you know I can't just let you run out here. The land here is wild…" he looked at her pained by her request.

"I know." She conceded, her voice quiet, dejected, as she looked down at the duvet she fiddled with it in her hands, feeling the sting of the palms where she had scraped them in the tunnels.

"But I can have Athol run with you – if you can meet me in the middle on this?" He slowly reached out and held her hands in his, instantly stopping their fidgeting.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze, to find his. But instead of the coldness she expected, to her surprise, she found something else there. Something warm.

She nodded, silently.

"And if you wish to travel to Dale and back, then he can accompany you…" he reached up slowly and brushed her cheek, carrying on to gently tuck her hair back. He used her name again, listening to how it sounded leaving his lips. Sitting on her bed, with her dressed in his old tunic and little else, and with so little between them, it felt so very intimate. He was more than capable of seducing a woman, and completely satisfying her, but this felt like something much more. Something that stirred a deeper desire. "Shobha, I want you to feel comfortable… for Erebor to feel as much your home as you felt before while you chose to stay here."

"Thank you." She whispered, clutching her duvet close again, unable to bring herself to admit that in truth, she had not felt at home for much of the last year. It was that which had finally prompted her to take up Oins offer.

He had let his hand linger for too long with his fingers wrapped around her soft, long, strands of ebony. And so he moved away, standing up from where he had shared such an intimate moment with her, just mere minutes ago.

"And thank you for sitting with me – you didn't have to."

"I made you a promise…" he bowed his head. "Now let me call Oin. He wanted to take a look at all your cuts and scrapes."

...

Your reviews gratefully received - post your thoughts xx

UnaLouise - thank you so much! I hope I did the golden cave justice. This will be quite a bit of tension and mystery with this story I think :)