So a light, metallic shower of sound accompanied me as I strode across our cottage’s main room that night to throw open the door at Leander’s utterly unnecessary knock.

“I was going to meet you in ten minutes,” I reminded him. “You didn’t need to come all the way over here to fetch me.”

“I…ah.” He looked utterly glorious, just as I’d expected, in a long black satin tailcoat, crimson waistcoat, and diamond buttons. His black hair had been arranged in careful, glossy curls around his shoulders. All in all, he should have looked like a visiting king condescending to peasants…but for the first time in our acquaintance, he actually looked too stunned to speak. His elegant jaw hung open, wider and wider, as his head tilted up and down, taking in every detail of my appearance.

Really. What else had he expected?

The dumbstruck look in his dark eyes was far too satisfying for me to summon up any true indignation, though.

“Oh, come in.” Letting out a sigh, I stepped backwards, and all my dozens of layers of light, glittering, hammered sheet metal shivered in a close-fitting silver cloud around my figure, taking on the light from Dad’s fire until they almost glowed. “I still need to step into my good shoes anyway.”

“…Shoes?” Leander blinked twice as he stepped into my cottage for the first time, his dark gaze trailing down to my stockinged feet—and then twitching swiftly away, as if he’d been burned. “That is, yes. Of course. Shoes. I thought I’d pick you up early to protect your shoes! From the mud, you see. On the road between your house and mine. According to my crows, it was raining all day.”

As if I couldn’t have dealt with a bit of mud! I rolled my eyes, but Dad spoke before I could. “Leander Fabian, I presume?”

“Sir.” Leander swept him an elaborate bow. I kept my eyes on him, but there was no trace of mockery in the move. “I’m pleased to meet you at last. Did you enjoy the latest puzzle?”

“That I did.” Dad smiled his most easy-going smile, which would have warned anyone who knew him well. No longer worried, I turned my back on them both so that I could find my shoes as he continued. “Did you design it yourself?”

“I can’t say I did,” Leander said, “but I was proud to manage to complete my own copy, after a day or two of wrangling with it.”

“Hmm,” said Dad. “Well, let me know if you can get hold of anything a bit more challenging for next time.”

Smirking, I stepped into my shoes, which were shaped from a pretty, hammered silver over a far more comfortable leather sole…with iron heels for support in more than one fashion.