Page 22 of The Caress

Those voices belong to the cook and the butler from Drummond Castle.

Feeling a rush of relief mixed with recognition, I push the door open and slip inside the kitchen with a sleepy smile spreading across my face. My earlier irritation is almost completely forgotten as I look back and forth between the staff members. "Good morning. Good to see both of you," I say, making a beeline for the coffee. "God, I’ve missed your coffee."

"You don't have to call me God," the cook says with a wink. "We heard things have been a bit hectic lately."

"So here we are," the butler stands up straight and adjusts his waistcoat, his delivery as dry and deadpan as ever, despite the twitching of his lips. "We’ve arrived to save the day."

"I’m really glad you’re both here," I say, pouring my coffee and inhaling the deliciously caffeinated scent. "It’s nice to see some familiar, friendly faces."

Before any of us can say another word, a short, angry man in an expensive-looking suit bursts into the kitchen and fixes me with a stern glare. "Why aren’t you in the meeting?"

I’m so caught off guard that it takes a moment for my brain to catch up. Even then, I have to look around to double check that he’s talking to me. "I, um," I pause to look over at the cook and butler, but they just shrug and take a step back. "What meeting?"

The man’s mouth drops open and then closes again with a snap. "Are you seriously that incompetent? Where did Lord Greyrose find you?" He’s the one who turns to face the butler this time. "Why can’t we ever seem to find a good assistant? Natasha might have been crazy, but at least she came to work prepared towork. "Unlike," he huffs out a short breath and makes an impatient motion toward me. "Unlike this one."

Okay.

I don’t know who this man is or what in the world he’s so upset about, but I’m not going to let him talk to me this way. Especially since I haven't had even a sip of coffee yet.

"Listen," I say as I point at him and take a step in his direction. I’m not normally a very confrontational person, but he’s pushed every single one of my buttons this morning. all at the same time. "I don’t know where you came from or what you think you’re doing in here, but there’s only one person in this house I take orders from. His name is—"

"That's me." Keir's deep, booming voice fills the room as he appears behind the angry man, startling him visibly. "She takes orders from me. She’s Isla’s nanny, not my assistant." He crosses the room to stand next to me, glaring at the flustered little guy the entire time. "She sure as hell isn’t your assistant. Do you want to know what it’s like to be yelled at in front of your co-workers?" His voice is rising with each word until he is, in fact, yelling. And he doesn’t wait for an answer before continuing to lay into the guy. "You don’t get to come intomyhouse and ordermystaff around. Ever."

"I'm s-sorry, sir," he stammers as the color drains from his face. "I didn’t mean to offend. I can see I was out of line."

"Indeed," Keir nods, not giving the man an inch of grace. "You were offensive, and you were out of line, but you don’t owe me an apology. I’m not the one you thought you were going to yell at and belittle when you came marching in here, so high and mighty and full of yourself."

This is far from the first time I’ve witnessed Keir dressing down an employee, but it is the first time I’ve been silently cheering him on. I’m a firm believer in treating others the way I want to be treated. I always assume most people feel the same way. But when someone starts acting so aggressive and rude for no apparent reason, I don’t mind putting them in their place.

Or in this case, seeing someone else put them in their place.

"I'm sorry," the man says for the first time since his outburst. "I was out of line and I shouldn’t have spoken to you the way I did. I can assure you it won’t happen again."

I nod but don’t say anything else. Keir keeps glaring at him until he slowly backs out of the room and disappears.

From the corner of my eye, I see the butler nudging the cook, then silently ushering him out of the kitchen as well. Only now, once Keir and I are finally alone, do I let myself exhale a pent-up breath.

"That was crazy," I shake my head and look over at Keir. "Who was that guy, anyway?"

"It doesn't matter," he says dismissively. "He won’t ever bother you again. I’m going to fire him before he leaves today, but I’ll let him sweat it out a little more first."

I feel a pang of guilt even though the guy really was acting like a rude, condescending asshole. "You don’t have to fire him, do you? He did apologize after you put him in his place."

"He should have offered that apology before I demanded it. Just like he should do the right thing and offer his resignation before I demand it. I doubt that’s the course he’ll take, though." He shrugs. "Regardless, I have to get rid of him. He’s shown who he really is and how he really acts when nobody is around to stop him. That’s the kind of negativity that can fester and grow within an organization. God knows that’s the last thing NewsCorp needs right now."

I nod because I know he’s right. As much as I hate to see someone lose their job, especially when it was partially because of me, I also understand where Keir is coming from as a leader. That guy’s actions reflect poorly on himself, on Keir. the entire organization. Those actions obviously can’t go unpunished.

"Still doesn’t feel good," I say, finishing my thoughts out loud. "But I can’t blame you for letting him go. It’s the right thing to do."

He opens his arms and pulls me into a half-hug. "It’s better than the alternative. I wanted to punch him right in his disrespectful mouth when I heard him talking to you like that, so you should be proud of me that I managed to restrain myself."

A small laugh escapes before I can stop myself. "You? Exercising restraint? I guess I didn’t get the weather report about Hell freezing over."

He looks genuinely surprised for a split-second before he snorts and playfully pushes me away. "And here I was feeling bad because he yelled at you. I forgot how well you can hold your own."

"I blame you. I used to be nice and sweet before I started working for you." I can only hold back my own playful smile for a few seconds before adding, "Seriously, though, thank you for sticking up for me. And for what it’s worth, I think you have learned to exercise restraint more often. That’s the first time in a while that I’ve seen you go after someone like that. It was totally deserved in this case."

Several long seconds pass while he holds my gaze. Finally, he nods approvingly, with a hint of a smile still visible. "I feel like we’re starting to understand each other a little better than we did before. I wish we’d been able to get to this point sooner."

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