Would much appreciate your feedback. Personally I think my writing has improved since the Entanglement, Book 1, and now a huge thesaurus is gracing my desk next to my computer. Enjoy Jareth's entrance to the story and how he deals with a potential rival.


Chapter 3

Meet Mr. Koenig

Sarah did not have the best disposition today and hated herself. She always felt like this after a one night encounter, and she truly hoped she would not run into Richard. He was the last person in the world she wanted to see right now. She needed some distance from him, like, for eternity.

She barricaded herself into her office most of the day and only left when she had to bring a message to the front librarian or a bathroom break. Two big stacks of books had been piled up on top of her desk for return in the research section. She usually enjoyed this part of her work, but today, nothing could cheer her up.

"I guess I get this shit done and over with", she grumbled with anger and grabbed the first stack to take to the folklore section.

She meticulously returned each book to its destined slot and went to get stack number two. She had her task nearly completed and was glad nobody was close by to ask her any questions.

"Excuse me Miss", a soft voice called from behind her. She pinched the top book under her chin and turned around dropping every book onto the floor with a loud clatter.

Her eyes had opened wide as she stared at the man in front of her. He was tall and blonde, wearing a light blue three piece suit with a matching Fred Astaire hat, as she called those type of old fashioned hats, which seemed to be in fashion all over again.

She let the books fall and did not make any attempt to pick them up as she stared into his eyes. One blue and one darker with a dilated pupil, giving it a nearly black appearance. How they mesmerized her and she recognized them immediately. Those were the eyes from her dream.

"Oh my goodness, Miss, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to drop those books. Let me help you."

His soft voice pulled her out of her trance as she shook her head, and found herself on her hands and knees with her face close to the stranger's.

He looked onto the floor busy picking up books and his hat obscured some of his face. She caught a whiff of his scent, and for a moment, she closed her eyes as she took it in. Peaches, she thought, how intriguing.

She only could stare at him when he lifted his head with an arm full of books, looking straight at her with those wonderful eyes of his.

"Here you go. Where do you want me to lay those for you?"

He got up and looked around, finally deciding on a small table nearby as Sarah was still on her hands and knees staring at him in silence. Only then did he notice she had not even gotten up. He extended his hand to her to help her off the floor, and Sarah took it very slowly.

As soon as their hands touched, a tingling sensation ran from her fingertips all the way up her arm and into her heart where it settled with a slight pain. She slightly jolted drawing his curious look.

"Are you ok, Miss? You look like you just saw a ghost."

The blonde man smirked and tilted his head. Finally Sarah managed to get a grip on herself after she broke her gaze from his eyes.

"I'm fine, I 'm...I don't know what I saw...thank you for helping with the books. Much appreciated", she finally managed to get out.

"I'm Jareth, Jareth Koenig", he replied in an almost whisper and Sarah gasped.

"Jareth", she repeated his name quietly, "like my dream man."

"Pardon me? What about dream?" the young man asked with an amused smile on his lips.

"Get a fucking grip on yourself", Sarah thought to herself, trying to return a smile.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Koenig", she finally managed, and this time her voice had regained its usual confidence. "I'm Sarah, Sarah Williams."

She bit her bottom lip and gave him a bright smile as her eyes sparkled. She couldn't quite understand why this man made her feel the way she did, but he seemed to be the best thing that happened to her all day, and she was not going to blow it.

Nice to meet you Ms. Williams", he replied, and like a gentleman lifted his hat slightly. Sarah chuckled and slightly blushed. She had never seen anyone do that before, only in movies.

"Call me Sarah", she offered, as he likewise asked her to call him Jareth.

"You are not from around here, aren't you?" she laughed and took the books off the table to continue with her task.

Jareth stood next to her, and he had no intentions of leaving. He had taken his hat off now and held it in his hands in front of his crossed legs as he leaned casually against a bookcase. He looked at her with soft eyes and a smile that seemed to have a familiarity about it.

"No, I am not from here. I'm from another real...country, England. I'm from England", he corrected himself hastily, and Sarah threw him a smile and a nod.

"That's one of the places on my bucket list to visit. It is so beautiful there. I love the old country. It has so much history and folklore. "

"It is rather charming, I do must admit to it".

Jareth tried not to chuckle at her sudden enthusiasm to discuss merry old England. He found her extremely attractive in this very instance. The way she carried on her conversation with him, as if they were longtime friends. He reveled in it. It had been so long since he had a nice conversation with someone other than a goblin.

"Where in England are you from?"

Sarah threw him a quick glance as she kept returning the books.

"London."

"So, it that a Cockney accent I detect then?" she gave him a playful smirk and picked up another book from the table which had her lean into him slightly, much to his delight.

"I presume. One can never hide their roots, so I have been told."

He had no clue what a Cockney accent was, but he decided to play along with her. It seemed much easier to leave her in believing in his London accent than to explain to her about his fae origins.

"One of these days I am definitely going to make it to London. So much to see there. And then the English countryside, it's supposed to be so romantic with all its old castles and buildings."

"You like old castles?" Jareth inquired with peaked interest.

"I love them. They make me believe in fairy tales of long ago."

Jareth had really perked up at this comment and huffed a slight chuckle.

"Fairy tales?"

He gave her an amused look, which she returned in a playful manner, placing her hand on his arm for just an instance. His heart stood still for those couple of seconds she had made contact, and he wished at that moment that he could just make time stand still.

"Well, you know. Kings and Queens, extravagant balls and festivities, all that glamour and pomp", she blushed lightly and diverted her eyes, but she could not hide her little smirk that had curled around her lips.

Sarah seemed to have found her rhythm, and started talking up a storm with Jareth about England. He stood and watched her with increasing amusement and delight.

He was about to ask her to join him for a drink when Richard came walking into the small section with his boisterous voice and total lack of manners.

"Hey there, my little girl."

Sarah immediately rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Not now, please not now", she thought as she turned and gave him a forced smile.

Jareth' friendly disposition disappeared, and his face darkened slightly. He could sense her tension, and he could feel the other man's sexual attraction and desire for her, which did not sit well with him.

"I'm not your little girl", Sarah snapped back and ignored him.

"That's not what it seemed to me last night", he grinned and gave her a wink, causing Sarah to blush severely this time.

Jareth felt a deep anger and heat rise up inside of him. He sneered and his eyes narrowed. Did he have to consider this man his rival? Would he have to fight him for Sarah? At this point he would to anything to achieve his goal.

"Want to go to the movies tonight and more fun afterwards?" Richard asked in a very licentious manner, completely ignoring Jareth' presence.

Sarah recoiled from his offer with distaste. How uncivilized he had been in his response and Sarah made her reproach quite known to him.

"I apologize for Richard's insensitivity", Sarah turned to Jareth with a look of aggravation, "but he has never been much for class or etiquette."

She gave Richard a sneer to show him her disapproval. Before Jareth could reply to anything that had been said, Richard once more piped up with his annoying and vulgar mannerism.

"Well, wanna go out or what?"

Richard doubled down on his question completely ignoring all other factors of Jareth' presence and Sarah's growing irritation.

She had become completely incredulous over his ignorance.

"I'm busy tonight. I already have plans", she spat frantically, not thinking about the consequences of her words.

She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as soon as she had blurt them out. She had no plans, and Richard would surely see through her diversion. Coming up with believable lies and keeping a good poker face had never been her forte.

"Oh yeah? What plans? You didn't mention any plans to me last night."

Richard leaned into her with a look of disapproval and puffed his chest. He found it rude and obnoxious for her to have plans without informing him of them. She was after all his girl, as far as he was concerned.

Sarah bit her bottom lip with a slight blush and searched desperately for a believable lie to get out of the corner she had put herself into.

"She is going to show me around the university this afternoon and then I'm taking her to dinner", Jareth finally injected and stared intensely at Richard who just now seemed to have noticed him.

Jareth had grown quite tired of this conversation and of this insulant young man standing in front of him who lacked every ounce of respect for Sarah, or him for that matter.

Richard looked him up and down a few times as if he were a priced bull at an auction and gave him a disapproving sneer.

"Who is this clown?" he asked Sarah, motioning his head towards Jareth.

"This 'clown'", Sarah replied extremely aggravated at this point, "is Mr. Koenig from England. And yes, he's taking me out. Sorry Richard."

She gave him a sideways look and put the last book back in its place, all the while praying he would finally get the hint and leave. Oh, she could only hope so, but Richard was much more dimwitted than she gave him credit for.

"You're moving in on my girl?"

Richard now addressed Jareth personally and got dangerously close to his face. He stared Jareth into his eyes as his face turned a few shades darker. He didn't take kindly to a stranger coming between him and Sarah.

Jareth tried his best to restrain himself, even though he felt like disintegrating this dreadful and appalling creature in front of him with the wave of his hand.

"I didn't see your name tag or brand on her. That makes her a free woman to choose for herself."

Jareth had replied with a low hiss and dangerously flashing eyes that had Richard take a step back with his mouth gaping open.

"Fuck off Richard", Sarah shouted, now obviously fed up with the entire situation.

At this point she did no longer care how she was perceived by this handsome stranger who had asked her out on a date, even though it kind of had been coerced out of him to safe her grace.

Richard gave Sarah one angry last huff and looked at Jareth with warning eyes before he left with balled fists. Sarah and Jareth likewise gave him a condescending sneer which made both of them laugh as they caught each other's facial reaction.

Jareth felt wonderful on the inside. He hadn't laughed in decades, no, he hadn't laughed in nearly three hundred years. Sarah bit her bottom lip again and gave him an embarrassed smile.

"Do you always brand or tag your women in England to mark them as yours?"

Her eyes looked directly at his, and this time it was him who got lost in them. They were the same beautiful sparkling green eyes he had remembered, except this time they belonged to a gorgeous fully mature woman and not an adolescent girl.

"Not really, but I had to say something to him. I do believe in a woman's right to choose. Where I come from, it is always the woman who makes the ultimate decision for a mate, I mean date."

Jareth wanted to kick himself. This was the second time he had almost messed up. Luckily she hadn't noticed, or if she did, she had considered it a joke.

"You don't have to go through with this, the date I mean. If you only said it to get rid of him."

Sarah sounded slightly sad and he could feel her disappointment at the chance of him backing out, which raised his hopes for his endeavour.

"Oh, but I do have to go through with this date. I would not give it up for anything. After all, I came all the way from England."

He looked gently into her eyes and Sarah held his gaze with a smile. How she loved his eyes and his mannerism. He had the cutest smile and he was oh so damn handsome. Finally a date she was looking forward to.

"Where and when may I pick you up?" Jareth inquired and Sarah took out an index card and wrote her address down for him.

Jareth looked down at her face as she concentrated on writing something on a piece of paper. Her dark shiny hair, her long black eyelashes, her immaculate flawless skin with its light ivory color.

He leaned slightly in to her take up her scent and closed his eyes. Peaches, how peculiar. Was it coincidental that they both had chosen the same scent for a shampoo? Did it hold some deeper meaning? He could only hope.

"Here's my address, and why don't you come by, let's say seven? I get off at five, so that gives me ample time to get ready."

Jareth beamed a happy smile at her, and Sarah thought his eyes twinkled like two blue stars in the night sky.

"I'll see you then, Sarah."

He put his hat back on and left with a smile and a wave of his hand, as Sarah stood watching him leave, quietly sighing to herself and clutching her hands to her heart.