The Beast of Stornoway

Chapter 20: Amani

Well, okay then, Lord Blarcum. 

Amani sighed as she closed her notebook and placed it on the table. At least he didn't yell at her. Lord Blarcum's moods could be so tumultuous sometimes.

She poured herself a cup of coffee, picked up the tablet on the table and sat back in her chair. She looked through the list of horses on offer and listened to Rory and Arthur discuss them as if they were setting up a team for Fantasy Football.

"I don't want racing horses," Lord Blarcum growled at them, "I tell you this every time. I don't race horses. I never have and I never will."

Rory sighed." But you're missing out on being a powerhouse at the races, m'Lord. Arthur and I would train them. You wouldn't have to do anything. We'd take full responsibility."

Lord Blarcum's eyes darkened to a shade that made Amani's blood run cold. "I don't race horses. I don't condone it and I won't have my name attached to anything that has to do with it," he seethed and his hand gripped the arm of the chair. "You are not irreplaceable. If you or Arthur bring up racing again, I won't hesitate to fire you both."

"Forgive us, m'Lord," they mumbled and hung their heads in shame.

Lord Blarcum stared at them for a minute and looked out the window to watch the horses begin to gather around the track. Amani looked between him and the two sulking brothers. She hated awkward silences, especially ones with tension think enough to cut with a knife. She always felt a sense of duty to cut through the silence.

"So, now that we cleared that up, does anyone want to explain to me how this works?" she said and took out the checkbook from her purse. "I can't referee this shopping spree unless I know what's going on." She laughed and caught Lord Blarcum's lip curl into a slight smile out of the corner of her eye.

Good. 

She cut some of the damn tension radiating from his body. That man was always so tense.

Rory chuckled across from her. "That's true, there's a lot of good horses today. We're going to need to have some restraint."

Arthur let out a bark of laughter. "She's not going to be much help. She liked every one of them!"

Amani scrunched her nose. "I may have liked all of them, but I have excellent restraint when it comes to budgets." She huffed and Lord Blarcum scoffed next to her.

"If you say so," Arthur said as he and Rory leaned forward holding out their tablets. "Alright, let's explain this."

They told her the basics of the auction application. Lord Blarcum had control over the bid, but they could send him suggestions on horses to purchase. She could watch the horses walk around the track with the video feature. She could also scroll through each horse to see what breed they were and if they were racing, domestic or free range.

"Lord Blarcum only bids on domestic and the occasional free-range horses," Rory explained with a hint of annoyance.

"Okay, what's a free-range horse?"

"Those are wild horses, ones that can't be domesticated. They have to run free and you'll never get to ride them," Arthur said.

"Oh, that's so beautiful." She smiled as they looked at each other and laughed.

"You think it's beautiful until you have to train one. Those horses are some of the most difficult to deal with. They hardly listen to anyone. The only free range I've seen trained is Charlie and he still only lets Lord Blarcum handle with him."

"Free range horses take time and a bit of finesse, which neither of you have mastered yet," Lord Blarcum grumbled as he mindlessly scrolled through the horses.

An alert popped up on their tablets notifying them of the start of the auction. The video feature opened up and displayed a young golden-brown steed being lead around the track.

"Alright, we'll explain the rest as we go along," Rory said as he quickly sat back in his chair.

Amani shook her head. Those two reminded her of Tye and his crew when they were betting on a boxing match. Arguing over the stats of each contender and who was worth the most money.

She sat back in her chair and her eyes slid to Lord Blarcum. "Are you going to bid on this one?" 

"No."

Is that all he's going to say to me today? 

"Why not?"

He sighed. "Because it's not the type of horse I want," he said simply and kept scrolling through the list. He'd been through that list at least three times. He must have it memorized by now.

"Okay, what kind of horse do you want?"

His jaw ticked as he looked at her. "One with a broken spirit."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

"You wouldn't understand." he muttered in annoyance. "I'm buying three horses today. Just keep track of the budget." He said and looked back at his tablet.

There he goes dismissing me.

What did he mean she wouldn't understand? She may not know much about horses, but she knew how to spot a broken spirit. She was sitting next to one right now. She had the urge to stick her tongue out at him but held it back.

That's not appropriate behavior, Amani.

Fine. She'd just prove him wrong. She'd find the horse with the broken spirit.