Her Summer with the Brooding Vet
Author
Scarlet Wilson
Reads
17.9K
Chapters
15
Sparks fly between a vet nurse and the new clinic manager! Dive into Scarlet Wilson's latest Harlequin Medical Romance. WINNING OVER HER GRUMPY BOSS! The last thing vet nurse Aurora expects this summer is for her quiet life to be disrupted by the arrival of veterinarian Eli. Back to take up the reins of his late father's practice, it's clear he doesn't want to be here. And with secrets of her own, Aurora's attraction to the brooding doc is completely inconvenient. Yet, as a grudging respect develops, their feelings begin to shift… Could a moonlit kiss change everything?
PROLOGUE
ELI TRIED TO hold his anger at bay. ‘Is that it, then?’ he asked his advisers in the room.
His accountant licked his lips, and his solicitor took a breath.
‘You have to declare bankruptcy. There’s no other option at this point.’
Eli let out the air that had built in his lungs. If it were possible, every cell in his body was exploding right now with pent-up frustration, despair, rage, and part sorrow. All his hard work. All his devotion to opening his own practice and making it a success had now all come to nothing. The countless hours he’d spent doing bone-aching work, concentrating, serving his community, had all been for nothing. All because of a woman.
All because he was a fool.
His solicitor cleared his throat. Eli knew what was coming, and he cringed. ‘Your father’s practice,’ he started slowly. ‘The last vet has put in his notice. There are two veterinary nurses. One has worked there for seventeen years. The other has been there eighteen months. The remaining vet is currently undergoing cancer treatment. As of next week, there will be no veterinary cover for the practice, unless you make a new arrangement with other existing practices.’
Eli sighed. He’d never wanted this. Never. His whole life, people had expected him to follow in his father’s footsteps and take over once he retired. But that had never been in Eli’s plans. No one had been more surprised than he was that he’d actually been bitten by the vet bug. Yes, he’d followed in his father’s footsteps and trained as a vet. But from the second he’d started his training he’d made it clear he didn’t want to join his father in the family practice.
It had caused many a cross word. But Eli had been determined. He’d served in some larger veterinary practices, gaining experience in small and large animals, taking jobs in the UK, the US, France and Spain. He didn’t want to be indebted to his father. He wanted to build his own practice. Eli had always been fiercely independent, even as a child. And now, as a thirty-one-year-old adult, he was back in the situation he’d always sworn wasn’t for him.
Would his stubbornness allow his father’s practice to fold?
No. It wouldn’t.
Being responsible for the demise of two practices would make him unemployable. The vet world wasn’t as big as most people thought. Reputation was everything.
‘Can you arrange an advert for the practice again?’ he asked.
His lawyer nodded, but pulled a face. ‘The last advert was out for four weeks. Only newly qualified vets applied. None that have the experience the practice needs.’
‘Then maybe I’ll need to have a rethink. I could have someone work alongside me for a few months. Get them up to speed. Then, by the time Matt is ready to come back he will be able to take over the supervision.’ He pointed to his chest. ‘This—me—is only a temporary solution. If we can’t find a vet of the calibre we need, then I’ll stay as long as it takes to supervise someone new. Get the advert back up.’
His lawyer nodded as Eli stood, staring out across the city. He did so not want to do this. But he wasn’t too stubborn to see that if he chose to walk away his father’s practice would fail, and the people in the surrounding area wouldn’t have any care for their animals.
Animals. They always did better for him than people did.
And that was the simple reason he would do this—for the animals.
