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“Red hair,” Ella said, resigned. “That’s what my aunt said, too.”

“Curiosity and—I suspect—a temper?”

Joe took another leap and landed on his shoulder.

“You have passed muster and are judged safe,” Ella remarked. “One of our footmen has tried to bribe him to sit on his shoulder, but with no luck.”

As she watched, Joe pranced around his lordship’s broad back and appeared on the other side, whisking his fluffy tail flirtatiously. “Lord Peregrine—”

“Fiennes,” he interrupted.

“That would be most improper.”

Joe chattered to Ella from his lordship’s shoulder. She stifled a grin.

“Your squirrel is a match-maker,” Lord Peregrine remarked.

“What do you mean?”

“He just issued an invitation,” he said, grinning at her. “Joe thinks you would be happy sitting on my shoulder or, in a human translation, in my arms.”

Ella had the strangest feeling, as if Lord Peregrine saw her. Since her parents died, everyone she met looked at her housekeeper’s keys or her faded dress, and though they treated her with courtesy—her cultured accent demanded respect—they didn’t see anything else.

They never saw her.

But this man did.

Lord Peregrine’s gaze reminded her of days long since passed, when her mother and father thought she was delightful and were curious about her thoughts.

Fulvia was rarely curious about anything outside the theater, and her aunt was warm but inattentive. The thought brought her back to herself.

“Now you’ve met Joe,” Ella said briskly, “it is time to return downstairs. If you are considering a squirrel as a pet, you should know that Joe can be very destructive if bored.”

Lord Peregrine glanced about.

“I leave the window open, and Joe goes down the tree,” she explained. “He expends a great deal of energy collecting acorns so that we will have enough to eat when winter comes.”

Lord Peregrine reached up a hand to steady Joe on his shoulder and walked over to the window. “This isn’t safe. A man could climb up and harm you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! That man would have to be as dexterous as Joe.”

He handed the squirrel back to her. “Why doesn’t your cat make a meal of him? Is it because she only has three legs?”

“Joe and Starlight are friends, actually. She infuriates him by stealing his acorns, but they never try to injure each other.” She set Joe down on the floor. “If he truly likes you, he will bring you an acorn.”

“A test,” Lord Peregrine said, his dark eyes on her face. “I don’t suppose you have a test you’d like to set?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“So I might prove myself,” he clarified. “Clean the Aegean stables or find a Phoenix nest.”

She gave him a lopsided smile. “You being in the garret does fall within the realm of fairy tales, doesn’t it? Except that this is real life, Lord Peregrine.”

He stepped closer again. “Fiennes.”

“You will be my cousin-in-law.”

“Never.”