The Doctor's Calling. Stella Bagwell

       Monday morning. I’ll give you my answer then.

      Laurel’s promise continued to haunt and shock him. All along, he’d thought she wouldn’t hesitate to follow him to his new job. Now he wasn’t so sure. What would he do if Laurel told him she didn’t want to accept the job? Find another assistant to replace her?

      He couldn’t replace Laurel. He knew that and he figured she knew it, too. No one else would put up with his moods and demands the way she did. No one else would devote herself to his work as she did. And lastly, no one else at his side would feel right.

      After what he’d been through, he never dreamed he’d allow his peace of mind to hinge on another woman. But here he was, agonizing over what Laurel might or might not do.

      Had he lost his mind? Or was he just beginning to realize exactly what his assistant had come to mean to him?

      Dear Reader,

      Change, no matter what prompts it, is the thing that moves our lives from one direction to another. Sometimes we choose to make our own changes and other times they’re forced upon us. Good or bad, how we deal with them reveals the sort of person we truly are.

      Laurel has already experienced traumatic redirections in her life and she’s decided her day-to-day rut of work, and little else, is the safest way to keep her heart from being crushed. As for Russ, he’s already concluded that it’s high time to move his life down a totally different trail. But will the woman he loves agree to follow him down that path to happiness? As you might guess, it’s going to take some mighty big changes to get these two together.

      Elsewhere, in Lincoln County, New Mexico, things are ever shifting. Babies are being born and new people are moving in! I hope you’ll decide to join the Donovans and the Cantrells as they continue to help family and friends find love and happiness in the land of enchantment.

      Thank you so much for reading, and God bless the trails you ride.

       Stella

      About the Author

      STELLA BAGWELL has written more than seventy novels for Mills & Boon. She credits her loyal readers and hopes her stories have brightened their lives in some small way.

      A cowgirl through and through, she loves to watch old Westerns, and has recently learned how to rope a steer. Her days begin and end helping her husband care for a beloved herd of horses on their little ranch located on the south Texas coast. When she’s not ropin’ and ridin’, you’ll find her at her desk, creating her next tale of love.

      The couple have a son, who is a high-school math teacher and athletic coach. Stella loves to hear from readers and invites them to contact her at [email protected].

      The Doctor’s Calling

      Stella Bagwell

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To our son, Jason,

      and the changes he made for all of us

      when he dropped a finger onto a map.

      Love you!

       Chapter One

      “What did you say?”

      As the question left Laurel Stanton’s lips, she was transfixed on the man seated behind the large, messy desk. Dr. Russ Hollister had owned and operated Hollister Animal Clinic for twelve years, and Laurel had worked as his assistant for the past five of those. It was unimaginable to think her days with him were coming to an end.

      His gaze locked on hers, he picked up a pen and tapped it absently against a stack of files. At thirty-eight years old, he was a tall, muscular man with big arms and hands to match. His shaggy blond hair was never combed and a dark five-o’clock shadow always covered the lower half of his face. But that was easily explainable, she thought. The man never had time to shave or get a decent haircut.

      “Just what I said,” he spoke with exaggerated patience.

      “As of January twenty-fifth, I’m taking the position of resident vet at the Chaparral Ranch. The Cantrell family owns the cattle and horse operation. I believe you’re acquainted with them?”

      Laurel had gone through high school and college with Alexa Cantrell. Now her friend lived in Texas with her Ranger husband and their children. Alexa’s mother, Frankie, spent most of her time in Texas, too, where she had grown sons from a previous marriage. Only Quint, Alexa’s brother, remained here in New Mexico to keep his late father’s ranching dynasty going.

      Laurel swallowed hard as a sinking weight hit the pit of her stomach. She’d noticed that Russ had been acting a bit unlike himself here lately, as though his mind were preoccupied with more than work, but she’d never dreamed he was about to do anything this drastic. What in the world could have come over him?

      She said, “I’ve been friends with the Cantrells for years. They’re great folks, but—”

      Bewildered by it all, her voice trailed away, however, he seemed not to notice as he quickly replied, “That’s one of the main reasons I decided to make this major job change. The family is trustworthy, solid and dependable. I can be sure that the ranch will always remain in their hands and I won’t ever have to deal with the uncertainty of a new owner coming in and replacing me.”

      Being a resident vet for a prominent ranch like the Chaparral was an impressive position to hold. Plenty of veterinarians would give their eyeteeth for such a job, she thought. Besides the prestige, there would be many other advantages, such as not having to deal with tons of paperwork, the demands of the public and traveling all over the county in the middle of the night. Still, Russ had always been his own boss. It was hard for her to imagine an independent guy like him willing to be an employee rather than the other way around.

      “But you own this clinic,” she reasoned. “Your business is so great that you can’t handle it all. Why—”

      Before she could get the whole question out, he interrupted, “That’s right. I can’t handle it all. It’s grown to be too much for you and me to deal with.”

      Questions and doubts tumbled through her mind as her gaze slipped over his rugged features. She’d never thought of Russ Hollister as a handsome man. He was too rough around the edges for that description. But he was sexy as all get-out and totally unaware of the fact, which made him even more unbearably attractive.

      Five years ago, when he’d first hired her, he’d been a married man. But three years later, that had all changed when divorce had parted him from a classy, career-driven wife. Ever since then, Laurel tried not to think of him in terms of being “available.” He was nothing more to her than her boss, or, from the sound of things, soon-to-be former boss.

      Pressing fingertips against her puckered forehead, she tried to put her concerns into words. “I realize you’re overworked and—”

      “We’re both overworked,” he corrected.

      “Okay. I agree. You have to deal with people and things that would frazzle the nerves of a saint, but this place and all the animals—who will care for them? You’ve been here—”

      “I don’t need for you to tell me how long I’ve been here, Laurel. The floors in this old building are stained with my blood and sweat. But that’s soon ending. I’ll be leaving the end of next week. And Dr. Brennan will be taking over shortly afterward. So there’s no need for you to worry. The horses from the track and all the other animals around here won’t go without a vet.”

      But what about her? What about the long, arduous hours she’d invested in this clinic? In him? Were they all for naught? She wanted to fling the questions at him.

      This