Landing a Laird by Jane Charles Page A

still had two hours until their appointment.  At least Pippa would have stayed for the entire night and probably had a wonderful time. Moira couldn’t wait to hear the stories. Oh, why couldn’t she have an old, lax guardian instead of her mother?
    A scratch at the door drew Moira’s attention.  “Come.”
    Mary, another maid, popped her head inside the chambers. “Lord and Lady Hearne to see you, Lady Moira.”
    “ Tell them I will be right down.”  Why were her brother and sister-in-law here?  “And have tea and cakes delivered. Lots of cakes, please.”  Her stomach grumbled.  Normally, she would have had her morning meal before now.
    “ Very good.”  Mary bobbed a quick curtsey and closed the door.
    Moira rushed through her toilette, without allowing Beatrice to do much with her hair except brush and to pin it back before rushing to meet her brother and sister-in-law.  Nyle and Alvina had been at the Heathfields’. Perhaps they would have stories to tell.  
    “ Moira Kirkwood, ladies do not run down stairs. They do not appear below stairs without their hair being arranged and their clothing properly attired.”
    She skidded to a halt, her slippers carrying her a few extra feet on the marble floor, the moment she heard her mother’s voice.  Moira glanced down at her gown. It was precisely what she’d planned on wearing to meet Pippa later that day.  Oh, she so hated changing clothing three, four, five times a day.  It was a terrible waste of time when one could be reading, shopping or simply enjoying a glorious day.
    She turned to face the woman who was the bane of her existence.  “Alvina and Nyle are here. I wished to see them and they don’t care how I’m dressed.”
    Her mother reached the foyer and raised an eyebrow. “What of other callers?  They will care.”
    Moira suppressed a sigh.  “There are no other callers, Mother, nor do I expect there to be any.”
    “ Of course there will be callers,” her mother insisted.  “You made quite an impression last evening. I expect they will be arriving within the hour.”
    How did one make an impression when barely a few words were spoken and her outing had only lasted all of sixty minutes in a room full of at least one hundred people?  Her mother was daft.
    “ Go upstairs and change into a morning gown, and have Beatrice do something with that hair of yours. Then you may visit with your brother and that wife of his.”
    Moira resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but she turned to do as her mother bade.  Thank goodness Beatrice had a talent for arranging hair, and in short order.
     
    “ Explain to me why you would allow, encourage, or otherwise be compromised by Miss Moira Kirkwood?”  Gideon Waite, Viscount Ainsely, asked his former school mate who he happened to run into when he entered White’s.
    “ I haven’t the foggiest. I’ve never even met the chit.” Peter Radburn, Marquess Lydell leaned back in his chair.  “And can a lady even compromise a gentleman?  Isn’t it usually the other way around?”
    “ Of course they can,” Gideon chuckled. “It happens all the time.  Except, we call it trapped .  She encourages a stolen kiss in the moonlight, her father appears, and bachelorhood comes to an end.”
    “ I suppose so.” Lydell shrugged.
    Mr. Jordan Trent pulled out a chair and joined the men at their table.  He signaled for the footman and ordered a brandy before he focused on Lydell. “About this bet…”
    “ I know nothing about it.”  Lydell threw his hands up in defense.
    Gideon laughed.  Lydell was rather private and the more he tried to go unnoticed, the more society gossiped about him.  Of course, it didn’t help that less than a sennight ago all of London learned Lydell needed to find an heiress before the Season was done.
    Jordan grinned. “I do.”
    Both Gideon and Lydell leaned forward.
    “ Fiske and Alston overheard Lady Moira speaking to Lady Hearne before the dowager Lady Hearne took her