CHAPTER SEVEN

Love Potion #9

'Mom,' Sarah said, pacing back and forth in sitting room off her mother's bedchamber. 'I just can't understand it. The dinner was wonderful. Yeah, there were a couple tight stops when he asked me about his future self, but he kissed me, and now he's avoiding me like the plague.' She plopped down on the bed. 'I've only got two more days to get him to propose, and how can I do that when he's surrounded himself with pack of women?'

Linda was only half listening. She had her own problems. Yes, certainly, Sarah's dilemma did take precedent since it involved a quickly approaching deadline, but it was hard to concentrate when her mind kept straying back to that night in Dart's study. Had she made a mistake?

She was beginning to think so, especially when their eyes would meet over the dining room table or during some scheduled activity. Now it was his eyes that were accusing, not hers. Had she led him on? No, of course not. It had just…happened. He'd been the one to force the issue, she reminded herself. So why did she feel so ashamed?

And of course, it didn't help matters that every time he got within a few feet, her body would go haywire. She hadn't felt this way since…but that hadn't been love. How could it have been when he'd run off with her understudy?

Would Dart run off with one's understudy? No, never. She had a feeling that once a Goblin King fell in love it was forever. Dart would be as single-minded about his lady as Jareth had been about Sarah. So what's your problem, that little voice asked. He doesn't believe in love, she answered back.

'Mom,' Sarah said, looking at her closely, 'are you ok?'

'Just a little tired. It's probably just this goblin air. Now,' she said with forced brightness, 'what were you saying?'

'I was saying that I only have two days left to get Jareth to propose, and he's been avoiding me ever since our dinner together.'

'Think back,' Linda urged, pushing thoughts of Dart aside, 'did anything unusual happen?'

'Yes,' Sarah answered, her voice sullen. 'He didn't take me to bed.'

'Did you want him too?'

'I would have with a little encouragement, I was missing him so much that night, but instead he goes over and starts banging away on the blasted piano. Next thing I know I'm waking up in my bedchamber alone and fully dressed.'

'That's unusual, alright,' Linda agreed.

Sarah jumped up and started pacing again. 'It's absolutely bizarre. He propositions me the first night, no embarrassment, no regret, and then when I finally agree, he returns me to my bedchamber like I'm a lost package he happened to find along the roadside. Then he surrounds himself with females that he showed no interest in prior to that night. What's going on?'

'Sounds to me like he's scared.'

'Scared? Of what?'

'Of falling in love. Men do that, you know. They run.'

Dart didn't run, a voice whispered in Linda's ear. You were the one running. What were you afraid of?

'We don't have time for him to run,' Sarah exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

'Then you're going to have to corner him, run him to ground, and once you've got him cornered, tell him straight out that you love him and want to marry him.'

'I don't know if he'll believe me. He thinks I'm in love with the pale-haired man.'

'But he's the pale-haired man.'

'I know,' Sarah cried, throwing her hands in the air. 'This is the craziest situation I've ever been in. I feel like a dog chasing its tail.'

Well,' Linda told her, 'you're just going to have to make him believe you.'

'How can I do that with a pack of women hanging on him?'

'Entice him away.'

'If he's deliberately avoiding me, I doubt he's going to willingly put down his human shield.'

'He might if you ask him. So far you haven't asked him. You haven't tested his resolve. If he's avoiding you, that means he doesn't trust himself, and you've allowed him to stay behind his shield. Send him a note. Ask him to meet you somewhere.'

Sarah thought for a moment. 'The library. I'll invite him to meet me in the library. He feels comfortable there.'

'Good,' Linda said, some excitement entering her voice as their scheme took shape, 'and when you get him there, back him up against his books and come on to him like Sugarpuss O'Shea did to Professor Potts.** Don't let him out of that library until he's yours, honey.'

In Another Part of the Castle…

'Mother,' Esther wailed, her gold ringlets bouncing as she paced back and forth in her mother's sitting room, 'I've only got two more days to get Jareth to propose, and how can I do that when he's constantly surrounded by all those other women? I thought once that human fell out of favor, I'd have a better chance, but it's worse now than it was before.'

'The solution is simple, my dear,' Dowager Gwen shrieked, clapping her hands. Drusilla instantly appeared in the doorway. 'Toad, get me my case. It's under the bed.'

Drusilla scurried off to do her mother's bidding and returned a couple seconds later lugging a large leather case. Gwen took the case, laying it on the table between the two sofas. Then she went to the windows and drew the curtains. Removing a key from her bosom, she slid it into the case's lock, turned it and carefully lifted the lid. Rows and rows of bottles winked at them in the dim light.

She studied the bottles for a long moment, her lips pursed in thought, and then selected a heart-shaped vial holding a pale pink liquid. 'Ah, here we go,' she murmured, handing the bottle to Esther. 'Aphrodite's Elixir of Love. Put a drop in Jareth's drink and the first woman he sees he'll fall madly in love with. It only lasted until midnight so get his brother to marry you right on the spot. As High King he's has the authority to perform marriage ceremonies. And don't worry. He wants him married off as much as we do so he won't balk at the idea.'

'But mother,' Esther said, her fair brow wrinkling, 'potions are forbidden. We could be disqualified.'

'By the time they realize a potion was used, it'll be too late. You'll be married to him.'

Esther was still frowning. 'How do I make sure I'm the first woman he sees?'

'Oh, for bog's sake, Esther, use your imagination,' Gwen shrieked, closing the case with a snap. 'I can't do everything for you.'

'But mother…' came the wail.

'Oh, Esther, do stop wailing like a bog-cat in heat,' Dowager Gwen shrieked. 'You know it gives me a headache.'

That, of course, elicited more wails from Esther which in turn elicited more shrieks from Gwen, and back and forth it went, allowing Drusilla to slip from the room unnoticed.

**SCENE CHANGE**

Toby was enjoying a good roll when Dru entered the stable. He leapt to his feet, his flanks covered with bit of straw, as soon as he saw her. She looked upset, the freckles on her nose standing out against pale skin.

'What's wrong?'

'Oh, Toby,' she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his tan fur, 'my sister and mother are going to do the meanest thing. They're going to put a love potion in the Goblin King's drink so he'll fall in love with Esther and marry her before it wears off Whatever will we do?'

He didn't answer at first. He was too shocked. He'd never been hugged by a girl before, and it felt…weird. He liked it and disliked it at the same time. He cleared his throat with a sort of horsey cough and took a step backwards, breaking her grip. She let him go but continued to look up at him with wide, trusting eyes. She was waiting for his leadership.

'We stop them, of course,' he told her.

'How?'

'Steal the glass before Jareth can drink it.' He walked from one end of the stable to the other, thinking. 'I'll create a distraction while you steal the glass. What are their plans for tonight? Another ball?'

She shook her head. 'No, cards.'

'Where at?'

'In the blue drawing room.'

'The one with the French doors into the garden?'

She nodded.

'Terrific!' He exclaimed, his ears twitching with excitement. 'I'll kick up such a ruckus that they'll have to come into the garden. While everyone's out looking for the demon horse, you can slip in and take the glass. You'd better replace it with another one or she might add another dose if he has to get more wine because his glass is missing.' He looked at her like general reviewing his troops. 'You'll have to keep an eye on her so you'll know when she adds the potion. When she does, you'll have to act fast. There'll be no time to waste. You'll have to give me some kind of signal.'

'There's a smaller room off to the side, an antechamber or something,' she said. 'I'll hide in there and watch. When I see her add the potion, I'll wave a candle in front of the window.'

''Good,' Toby said. 'I'll be outside in the garden at 8 o'clock sharp.'

'You're the smartest horse I know,' she said with a smile, reaching in her pocket and pulling out an apple, which she held out to him. 'I bet you're even smarter as a boy. I wish I'd known you when you were a boy.'

Toby took a bite of the apple and for the first time since becoming a horse began to wish that he were a boy again.

**SCENE CHANGE***

Jareth hated Fizzbin, and he particularly hated playing it with the Lady Esther as his partner. She spent too much time squinting at her cards, and she was constantly dropping things so that he and the other couple who were their opponents had to keep leaning over and retrieving them for her.

To top it off, she kept urging him to get a glass of wine from one of the passing goblins. He didn't want any wine, damn it! He had always found the stuff to taste like an old shoe boiled in turpentine. But to shut her up, he'd grabbed one off a passing tray, and shortly afterwards, she had sneezed sending her hand of cards fluttering in all directions. He and the other couple had had to scramble to retrieve them.

One of the cards had landed beside Sarah's chair where she was playing at a nearby table, that puppy Rhys as her partner. When he'd gone to retrieve it, they had reached for it at the same time, their hands meeting. Then their eyes had met, and that empty feeling had nearly suffocated him. Avoiding her had accomplished nothing. So why the bog was he spending his time with a bunch of silly females instead of being where he really wanted to be? It was madness, sheer madness.

He had just returned to his seat when a horrendous noise exploded outside the French doors leading to the garden. It sounds like a horse banging its hooves against a brass gong. There were a lot of whinnies interspersed with thumping and banging and deafening clangs. He as well as everyone else got to their feet to see what was causing the noise.

**SCENE CHANGE**

Dart strode down the hallway, a dark scowl on his face. What the bog was going on in the blue drawing room? They were supposed to be playing Fizzbin, not auditioning for a blasted marching band. How could he drown his sorrows in beer and fragrant smoke with this racket going on? It was loud enough to wake the bog zombies, and that was something no one wanted to happen.

He was a foot away from the door of the drawing room when a small figure barreled into him. It was a girl of perhaps twelve, and she was carrying a wineglass. His scowl deepened. So she had taken the opportunity of the racket to steal some wine. Bloody kids. Always wanting to taste the forbidden fruit.

'What's this?' He demanded, giving her his best Goblin glower. 'Stealing wine?'

'Uh, no,' she stammered. 'I…I…'

He took the wineglass from her, cuffed her ear and then sent her on her way. She disappeared down the hallway.

'Kids,' he muttered, taking a swallow of the wine and then another.

Peeking around a corner, the girl watched with horrified eyes as he drained the glass.

**SCENE CHANGE**

'It's one of those demon horses that come down out of the mountains once a year to carry off babies and little children,' someone cried. 'They drown them in the lake up there.'

'It's just a normal horse,' someone else called out. 'Probably ate some of that wacky weed that grows along creek beds.'

Jareth pushed his way to the front. Since Dart wasn't present – a common occurrence these days - it was his duty to calm their guests. He didn't realize Sarah was beside him until he heard her cry out. 'Toby, what in the world is wrong with you? You're scaring everyone half to death! Stop this racket at once!'

The horse stopped its banging and hung its head, looking ashamed of itself.

'You know this horse,' he asked her.

'Uh, yes,' she said, going over and touching the horse's nose, 'he sort of belongs to me. I didn't even realize he was here. I'm sorry if he's caused any trouble.'

'I'm not surprised that she has a crazy horse,' Lady Esther mocked. 'I suppose it talks too. Probably says 'yes, ma'am' and 'pass the sugar'.'

Everyone laughed, causing a bright red blush to color Sarah's cheeks. She stood silently, her chin held high despite Esther's taunt as the crowd began to filter back inside, the men laughing openly, the ladies twittered behind brightly colored fans.

Jareth wanted to say something to ease her embarrassment but thought better of it. Goblin Kings never offered comfort. It was a sign of weakness or at least that's what his father had said. He turned to go as well, but a hand on his sleeve stopped him. He looked down. It was Sarah's hand, and in her other hand, she was holding out a folded piece of paper.

'Take it,' she whispered.

He did, and she hurried away without another word.

Returning to his seat, he opened the slip of paper. On it was written: Meet me in the library at ten o'clock. He glanced at the clock. It was thirteen minutes to ten.

'Why, Jareth,' Lady Esther was saying, 'you look unsettled. That horse and its owner must have annoyed you. Have a sip of wine. It'll calm you.'

His fingers curled around the note, crushing it. 'If anything has annoyed me, it's you, Madame. Such cruelty to another lady in front of others is unacceptable, even in this castle, and leaves no doubt of your character.' He stood up. 'And, as I have told you numerous times this evening, I do not want any wine.'

**SCENE CHANGE**

As soon as Sarah had given Jareth the note, she'd left the drawing room. Even if she hadn't had this assignation, she wouldn't have wanted to stay, not as long as Lady Esther was queen of the drawing room. It had taken all her willpower not punched the girl on her turned-up nose.

She had not taken more than two steps out of the drawing room door when she barreled into something hard and immovable. The force of the collision sent her stumbling back a few inches, but she quickly righted herself and glanced up. Dart's harsh features stared down at her.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' she said, offering smile. 'I…I forgot something upstairs. I was just running up to get it.'

She made to go around him, but his arm flashed out, stopping her. To her utter amazement, he caught both of her hands in his and raised them to his mouth, kissing them most fervently. It wasn't Toby who'd gotten into the wacky weed, Sarah decided, staring at him, open-mouthed, it was the Goblin Realm's High King.

'Please, sir,' she said, trying to disentangle her hands from his, 'you're making me uncomfortable.'

He held on like a barnacle. 'Your perfume is intoxicating,' he breathed. 'What is it? Jasmine?'

'It's soap,' she told him.

'On you even soap smells like a bouquet of desert flowers,' he murmured.

When his lips started traveling up her arm, she decided desperate times called for desperate measures. Raising her heel, she slammed it into his instep. He grunted, releasing his grip long enough for her to escape. She ran down the hallway as though the hounds of hell were on her heels.

Once inside the library, she leaned against the doors, breathing heavily. What the hell was that all about? Dart was never, ever shown any kind of attraction to her, and here he was nibbling on her arm as though it were prime rib or something. It was…bizarre.

She stepped away from the door, moving toward the red sofas. Jareth would be there any minute, and she wanted to be calm, cool and collected, not hot and sweaty from a tussle with his brother in the hallway. She took several deep breathes, trying to calm herself, but all was in vain. Seconds later, the door burst open and Dart entered.

'You're right, my sweet,' Dart said, coming toward her. 'The hallway was much too public for our lovemaking. The library is a much better choice.'

'Lovemaking,' Sarah squeaked, putting a sofa between them. 'Are you mad?'

'Yes, I'm mad,' he confirmed, 'mad with love for you. Come, my desert flower, let me lose myself in your fragrance.'

He lunged for her as she dashed around the side of the sofa, hoping to reach the library door. There was the sound of tearing fabric. She looked down. His hand had caught the left side of her bodice, tearing it to her waist and exposing a rounded breast. She gasped, clutching the fabric to her chest as his arms closed around her, turning her to face him. To her horror, she felt his lips clamp down on hers.

'WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?'

Jareth's roar nearly caused Sarah to cry in joy. Thank God, he'd accepted her invitation to the library!

She struggled and managed to dislodge Dart's mouth long enough to gasp. 'Jareth, thank God you're here! Your brother has gone mad!'

'Go away, little brother,' Dart ordered. 'This doesn't concern you.'

'Doesn't concern me,' Jareth repeated, coming into the library until he was only a few feet from them. 'You're assaulting the woman I love, and it doesn't concern me?'

Sarah's heart leapt at his words. He loved her!

'I'm not assaulting her,' Dart retorted. 'I'm making love to her.'

'Over my dead body,' Jareth snarled.

'That can be arranged. Choose your weapon. Pistols or swords?'

This was getting totally out of hand, Sarah thought, glancing from one brother's face to the other. Both were set in hard, cold lines. Was Dart suggesting a duel?

'Neither,' Jareth replied. 'I've got a better idea. Something a little less civilized.'

Balling a fist, he swung. Sarah ducked just as his knuckles connected with Dart's jaw. The High King stumbled backwards. His legs hit the sofa, unbalancing him and sending him careening into a nearby table. There was a loud cracking sound, and then Dart was on the floor, unmoving.

It was at that moment that Linda, followed by a girl with brown hair, rushed into the room. She fell to her knees beside Dart.

'He's not…' Sarah trailed off.

'No,' Linda said, shaking her head, 'he's alive. He's just knocked out. He'll have a hell of a headache when he wakes up.'

'Good,' Jareth retorted. 'He deserves it. I only wish I'd broken his jaw as well.'

'You didn't break his jaw,' Linda said, holding up something small and white, 'but you managed to dislodge a tooth.'

'What happened to him?' Sarah asked. 'He was acting like a mad man. He was kissing my hands and nibbling on my arm and chasing me around sofas.' She looked down at the bodice she was still clutching. 'If Jareth hadn't arrived when he did, I don't know what would have happened.'

'I'll tell you what would have happened,' Jareth told her, his expression unrepentant. 'He'd be dead rather than unconscious. If he had,' his fists clenched and unclenched, 'managed to carry out his plans, he'd be at the bottom of the bog right now.'

'But it wasn't his fault,' the girl cried, speaking for the first time. 'It was the potion.'

'Who are you?' Jareth demanded. 'And what do you know about what happened here tonight?'

'My name's Drusilla, but everybody calls me Toad. You can call me Toad, if you like. I don't mind.'

Jareth looked down his nose at her. 'I will not call you or anyone else such a repulsive nickname. If your name is Drusilla, you'll be called Drusilla.'

She smiled up at him shyly. 'Thank you, Mr. Goblin King.'

'My name's Jareth. Just call me Jareth.'

Linda stood up, coming over to put an arm along Drusilla's shoulders. 'Drusilla is Lady Esther's younger sister.'

'I should have known that bog-cat had something to do with it,' Jareth muttered.

'When she heard her mother and Esther plotting to put a love potion in your drink, she went and told Toby. I guess she and Toby have become good friends over the last few days. Instead of coming to an adult like they should have,' Linda sent the girl a stern look, 'they decided to take matters into their own hands. While Toby caused a ruckus outside, Drusilla switched wineglasses. Unfortunately, she ran into Dart, and he took the glass from her and drank it himself. The potion caused him to fall madly in love with the first woman he saw, and that just happened to be Sarah.'

'Potions are forbidden,' Jareth said, his voice tight.

'I guess they were desperate,' Linda replied. 'There's only two days left to the house party, and you were showing no signs of succumbing to Esther's charms so they decided to help you along a bit.'

'He won't be madly in love with me forever, will he?' Sarah asked, dreading the answer.

'Fortunately, it only lasts until midnight.'

'Thank God for that,' Sarah breathed.

'Well,' Linda said, turning to look at Dart's unmoving body, 'we'd better get a few goblins up here and get him to his bedchamber. Drusilla tells me that her mama's potions pack a powerful punch. He'll have something like a hangover when he wakes up…not to mention a nasty headache and missing tooth. I suspect he'll be one hell of an angry Goblin King.'

**SCENE CHANGE**

Jareth stood staring at the empty fireplace, his hands clasped behind his back. His anger, which had been at a raging boil only an hour ago, was now at a slow simmer. It would take a while for it to dissipate completely. Never in all his life had he been as enraged as when he'd seen that torn bodice. He could have cheerfully killed Dart with his bare hands. If Sarah hadn't invited him to the library, he shuddered to think what would have happened. Lady Esther and her mother had a lot to answer for.

'Why did you ask me to the library tonight?'

He heard Sarah shift on the sofa behind him. 'I guess I was desperate. Just like Lady Esther.'

'Desperate? Why?'

'You can ask that when you've been shunning me for days now?'

He grimaced. Yes, he'd shunned her, and it had been a mistake. It had led to this entire fiasco. If he'd accepted his feelings and stated his intentions for all to hear, then perhaps Lady Esther wouldn't have resorted to a love potion. She and her mother would have known that they had no hope. Still, he mused, his lip twisting, women like that didn't give up easily.

'What were your intentions in bringing me here?'

'I'd rather show you.'

That got his attention. He turned and found himself nose to nose with her. She had somehow come up behind him without him realizing it. She had changed her dress during the time spent getting Dart to his room and was now fully clad. Nevertheless, her closeness immediately sent his pulse racing. He took a step back. She followed. This continued until his back came up hard against the stone of the fireplace. She had him cornered.

'Did you mean what you said to Dart?'

'You'll have to be specific,' he hedged. 'I said several things.'

Her hands slid up the fabric of his jacket. 'Am I the woman you love?'

He tried a chuckle. 'I sort of lost my head there, didn't I?'

'Because if I am,' she leaned closer, 'I'd like to tell you the feeling's mutual. You're the man I love.'

He frowned. 'Don't lie to me, Sarah. Don't pity me. I know you're in love with the pale-haired man in the crystal.' His hands suddenly shot out, grasping her arms, his eyes intense with some unknown emotion. 'But I promise you I'll steal your love from him if it's the last time I do. Let me show you how much more you can love me than him. If you will give yourself to me, you won't regret it. I will love you like no man has ever loved a woman.'

'Oh, Jareth,' she sighed, staring up at him with moist eyes, 'you already have stolen it, you ridiculous Goblin King. I love you. I brought you here tonight to tell you that, to beg you to make me as your bride, to offer to love you and fear you and do as you say.'

'And I will be your slave,' he murmured.

'Yes,' she said, smiling up at him, 'that's exactly how it goes.'

Without another word, he bent and swept her into his arms. He still didn't quite believe her, but he wasn't going to look a gift goblin in the mouth. He was going to take what he could get. He would place his stamp of ownership on her. He would make her his in every way possible, and if that pale-haired man ever showed up, just let him try to take her from him. Goblin Kings never let go of what they had made theirs.

**SCENE CHANGE**

'Oh, bloody bog, my head,' Dart groaned, clutching that offense piece of anatomy. 'What the hell happened to me? I feel like I've been run over by a bog buffalo.'

'You've been the victim of a love potion. One of Dowager Gwen's best, I'm told.'

It was the wench's voice. What was she doing in his bedchamber? It was his bedchamber, wasn't it? He opened a bleary eye to inspect his surrounding. No, it wasn't his bedchamber. It was the sitting room attached to it, and he was sprawled across the sofa like a sack of potatoes. Obviously someone must have dumped him there. One would think a High King would be treated with a little more respect and care, he thought with a healthy amount of righteous indignation.

His eye searched for the woman and found her. She was kneeling beside his makeshift bed. Despite the throbbing in his head, the rest of his body immediately reacted to the sight of her, and he let out another groan. She, however, took the groan as evidence of pain and a glass of some thick red liquid was shoved into his face.

'Here,' she urged, 'drink this. It'll make you feel better.'

Dart eyed it suspiciously. 'What is it?'

'An old human remedy for hangovers.'

'I don't have a hangover,' he told her, pushing the glass aside. 'I'd only got half a glass of beer down me before that infernal clanging began.'

'This isn't an alcohol hangover. It's a love potion hangover.'

'Love potion?' He echoed, trying to sit up. She pushed him back down. 'You keep saying that. Love potions are strictly forbidden. Anyone caught using one will be disqualified. And besides,' he said, scowling, 'why in the name of bogdom would anyone use one on me?'

'Don't you think anybody would want you to fall in love with them?'

She had turned away to place the glass on a nearby table so he couldn't see her face, but there was something in her voice that made his heart beat a little faster.

But it must have been a rhetorical question because she gave him no time to answer. She turned back, saying, 'It wasn't intended for you.'

'Then who…'

'I think that's obvious, don't you? You're the one that invented this ridiculous competition with your brother as grand prize.'

His scowl deepened. 'I'm not giving him away like a trophy. I'm giving him the right to choose his own bride.'

'Are you?' Before he could defend himself further, she continued on. 'He wasn't choosing her so Lady Esther got a little desperate. She put a love potion in Jareth's wine. Drusilla had overheard her mother and sister's plan so…'

'Wait a minute,' he interrupted. 'Who the devil is Drusilla?'

'Lady Esther's younger sister. She and Toby have become good friends…'

'You mean the horse.'

She nodded. 'And between the two of them they devised a plan to stop Lady Esther. While Toby caused a distraction outside, the infernal clanging as you so eloquently put it, Drusilla switched wineglasses. Unfortunately, you stopped her in the hallway, took the wineglass from her and drank it yourself. Don't you know better than to drink from strange wineglasses?'

'That explains the 'hangover',' he said, ignoring her question, 'but how the devil did I get this knot on my head and a,' he touched his face, wincing, 'sore jaw?'

'You've also got a missing tooth.'

His tongue searched his mouth, and he scowled when he found a gap between two molars. 'Damn it, I know a love potion doesn't knock teeth out.'

'No,' she agreed, 'your brother did that.'

'Jareth? Why?'

'Because the first woman you saw after drinking the potion happened to be my daughter. You followed her to the library and were pressing your advances, so to speak, when Jareth walked in. You're lucky you're only missing a tooth. From the look on his face, he wanted to remove a few other pieces of your anatomy.'

'Oh, bloody bog,' Dart groaned.

'Oh, that's not the worse of it,' Linda said with something suspiciously like glee. 'You've lost the wager. I guess your assault on the woman he loves finally made up his mind for him. They are currently locked in her bedchamber, and I'm sure a randy, old goat like you can guess what they're doing.'

'The wager isn't lost until he comes and tells me that he wants to marry her.'

'Oh, don't worry, he will.'

He glared at her with one bleary eye. 'You're enjoying this, aren't you?'

'I must admit that I'm finding the situation somewhat amusing. The man who did everything in his power to keep them apart was instrumental in bringing them together. How deliciously ironic, don't you think?'

'I didn't do everything I could have done,' he told her, his expression sullen.

'No? Why not? I would think a ruthless High King like you would have pulled out every dirty trick in the book. Why didn't you?'

'Because,' he snapped, her taunts pushing him over the edge of his endurance, 'some mouthy wench kept poking her nose in where it wasn't wanted or needed. How can I be suitably ruthless when I'm being watched every minute of the day? It's worse than having a bloody conscious. I should have sent you back to the Aboveground as soon as you opened that mouth of yours.'

'Oh, so it's my fault, is it?'

'Yes, Madame, it is.'

They glared at each other.

'Then why don't you send me back? Send me back right now!'

He stared at her. Bloody bog, she was magnificent, he thought, his eyes lingered on the flashing green eyes, the dark hair made even darker by the shadowy candlelight, the rounded bosom so close yet so far away. Somehow looking at her he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed at her role in causing him to lose the wager. He couldn't even be that annoyed with losing the wager. Oh, who the bloody bog cared who Jareth married?

'Because I've got better plans for you, and if I didn't have this sore jaw,' he told her, his voice husky with promise, 'I'd show you exactly what they are.'

He watched as her eyes widen as his meaning dawned on her. Then they narrowed, becoming seductive slits as she leaned toward him. 'You're not going to let a sore jaw stop you, are you?'

Oh, to the bog with the pain and discomfort, he decided, reaching a hand around the back of her neck. What was a little pain in the face of paradise? His fingers slid into the silky hair at the nape, drawing her closer until her lips hovered above his. His other hand reached for the zip at the back of her burgundy gown.

'A kiss is one thing,' she told him, pulling back a little. 'I don't think you're in any condition for that.'

'Don't worry about it,' Dart growled, pulling her to him. 'Goblin Kings have remarkable endurance.'

**These characters are from Ball of Fire starring Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper.