The Beast of Stornoway

Chapter 14: Amani

Amani clenched her fists to her side and marched back into the house. Lord Blarcum was an absolute piece of work! First, he told her no one could call her by her first name and then he told her not to bow! 

What in the actual fuck is his problem?

It burned her that he dismissed her like that as if he was tired of her presence and shooed her away. Who the hell did he think he was? She clenched her jaw as she stormed down the hallway, oblivious to the worried looks of the maids cleaning around the house.

"Amani, are you alright?" Benny asked as he walked down the hall towards her. She looked up at him and blushed. She was overreacting. Lord Blarcum was her boss and she needed to accept his flip-flopping formidable ways. She needed to keep this job if she wanted to stay in Scotland.

"Yes." She sighed. "I'm fine. I just had my first glimpse of why Lord Blarcum's former assistants quit." Her eyes grew wide and realized she shouldn't have said those that about him.

"It's alright. What did he say to you?"

"He's just so confusing." She huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm not allowed to let anyone call me Amani and I'm not allowed to bow. Then he dismissed me to get my assignments from you," she said as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She quickly blinked them back. That shouldn't have bother her so much, but she hated that he dismissed her like that, as if she wasn't worth speaking to anymore. "Did...did I do something wrong?"

Benny chuckled, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You did nothing wrong, lass. That sounds like your first meeting went pretty well to me. He's done far worse and Charlie didn't even bite you." He smiled and his brown eyes were light with amusement.

Amani frowned, unsure if she heard him correctly. "That was a good meeting? I guess I have a lot to learn about Lord Blarcum."

"Yes, you do. Come on, let me give you your assignments," he said as he turned her around to walk back down the hall to his office.

Amani listened to Benny and wrote down all her tasks for the week. She was to accompany Lord Blarcum to a horse auction, purchase golfing attire for a benefit tournament and arrange the logistics of the day to his liking.

"Do you have any questions?"

She sighed looking over her list. "Yes, does Lord Blarcum have any particular clothing brands he likes?"

"No, but the previous assistants used to buy him all the top brands like Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and the like. He never seemed to care. The only thing m'Lord won't tolerate is the purchase of cheap whiskey."

Amani laughed. "Ohhkay. What am I supposed to do at the auction?"

"Ah, you'll be keeping track of the checkbook and assisting Lord Blarcum purchase horses," he explained. Her eyes grew wide. Help him purchase horses? She didn't know anything about horses!

"Benny, I'm sorry, I can't go to the horse auction. I don't know a thing about them."

"You don't need to. M'Lord always brings a few farmhands with him. What I mean by assist, is making sure he doesn't buy too many. The man can't help himself and his farmhands aren't any better."

Amani rolled her eyes. "Like that jerk will listen to me," she mumbled before she could stop herself. She cringed and slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"That's quite alright, love. I've heard far worse about him." He chuckled. "You might be surprised. I have a feeling he'll feel inclined to listen to you."

"I don't think so, Benny," she snorted. "But you know him better than I do." She closed her notebook as she stood from the desk. "I'm going to read up on all of His Majesty's particulars for the rest of the day, if that's alright?"

"That's fine. I'm not your boss, lass. You answer to Lord Blarcum, not me."

"Right." She sighed. "Another thing to get used to."

"You're doing just fine, Amani."

She gave him a small smile as she gathered her IT kit and left the office to walk slowly back to her room. She didn't know what Benny was talking about. She felt like she was doing a terrible job already. She had a lot to learn about Lord Blarcum, like how to communicate with him without getting dismissed.

She was good at reading and observing people and her boss was no different. If he didn't like speaking to her in person, she was going to have to utilize her new gadgets and communicate over text. She dropped her equipment on her bed and opened the laptop. First things first, she needed to read through as many files about the farm and the business as she could. She was his assistant, so that meant she needed to know this manor and Blarcum Industries inside and out.