You can’t have her.
He had to keep reminding himself of that fact. He wanted nothing to do with someone who would leave after her rotation was done. He wanted nothing to do with anyone ever again.
Not since Vivian had died.
He was not going to go through anything like that again. Besides, he had Mo to think of, and his practice, his patients. That was what was important.
“I am a doctor,” he said tersely. “I’m the general practitioner of Wolf’s Harbor.”
“Are you on rotation too?” she asked.
“No,” he snapped. “Unlike you and Dr. Pearson, I am here all the time. Wolf’s Harbor is my home. I actually care about my patients and their medical care enough to stay.”
Her eyes narrowed and a strange expression crossed her face, but only briefly.
“If you truly cared about your patients then you wouldn’t object to me being here. I’m here to stay.”
His eyes widened. He was surprised. “Stay? As in permanently?”
She blushed. “Well...no.”
Of course not. He knew better than to get his hopes up.
Who was this woman?
“I’m just as capable as Dr. Merritt,” she said, breaking the tension.
“Are you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I at least know Dr. Merritt. I know nothing about you. Not even your first name.”
She smiled tightly. “Dr. Evelyn Saunders. I just completed my fellowship in fetal surgery at Richler Medicine in Seattle. I’m one of the few people in this country who can perform delicate fetal surgeries. I’m also a board-certified obstetrical and gynecological fellow, and a pediatric fellow specializing in premature infants. I completed that fellowship and practiced for three years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. You can check my credentials, but they speak for themselves. I am more experienced than Dr. Merritt and I will be an asset to your patients.”
Damn. She was right.
And he was completely impressed by her résumé and where she’d studied. She had every right to be confident to the point of obnoxiousness.
She was a triple threat and he’d be an absolute idiot to turn her away—but he couldn’t help but wonder why someone with so much experience didn’t have a thriving practice of her own.
Who cares? She can help your patients even if it’s only for a short time.
He couldn’t help but wonder if someone like her had been here that horrific night five years ago Vivian would still be here and he wouldn’t be alone. Mo would have her mother. He’d still have that piece of his heart and soul that had been torn away the night he’d lost Vivian. The night Mo had lost her mother. His patients needed her.
“Fine.” He sighed and he ran a hand over his head. “I’ll show you to the apartment and get you a clinic key, then give you all the information you need to start tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Dr...?” she asked, extending a hand.
“Dr. Taylor. Dr. Derek Taylor.” He ignored her hand, afraid to touch her and still not wanting her to feel too welcome. “Come on, I’ll show you to your place.”
His mother would totally be slapping him upside the head if she could see how he was being such a jerk to this woman, but he couldn’t get attached. Dr. Saunders would be gone in three months and he had no interest in getting attached to someone who wasn’t going to stick it out for the long run.
It was so much easier on his heart this way. Better for Mo too. He didn’t want her to get hurt. He’d promised Vivian he’d protect Mo. So he planned to treat Evelyn like every other physician who passed through Wolf’s Harbor on rotation. Even if she was easy on the eye and had a spirited personality—the kind which always drew him in when it came to members of the opposite sex...
He was a professional above all else. His patients came first. And even though he knew nothing about her—even though training a new doctor about the ins and outs of Wolf’s Harbor Medical would be an extra burden on him—he’d gladly do it.
Unlike all the other doctors who came and went, he was here for the long haul.
HE’S A BIT cool and stand-offish.
Evelyn waited outside with her rolling suitcase as Dr. Taylor—Derek—locked up the clinic. It was beginning to drizzle and it was dusk, but since it was summer it would stay light pretty late.
She glanced at her watch and remembered she hadn’t switched it over to Alaska daylight time.
Derek whistled. “That’s some fancy watch you have there!”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks, because she’d caught the undertone of his sarcasm. Yeah it was flashy and out of place here, but he didn’t have to point it out. “It was my grandmother’s. She left it to me when she passed.”
His expression softened. “Sorry.”
“She had a good life. She was ninety-nine when I lost her to cancer. I miss her—she was the only family I had.”
No, she wasn’t, a little whisper said in her mind, but she ignored it. She knew now that Uncle Yazzie was still around, but Léelk’w probably wasn’t. Still, she’d been gone for twenty years and had had no contact with any of them. It was apparent that they hadn’t thought of her. Joe Jr. hadn’t even blinked an eye when she’d told him her last name.
So she had no family left. Not really.
“I understand,” he muttered, but then shook his head as if he felt bad about what he’d said. “Look, let’s get out of this drizzle before it turns to full-out rain.”
“That’s fine with me. Is the apartment far?”
“Nope.” Derek shoved his hands in his hoodie and headed up an alleyway behind the clinic.
Evelyn rolled her eyes and followed him. It wasn’t really an alleyway after all, but a steep slope up to a set of wooden stairs that were at the back of the clinic.
“This is the place,” Derek said. “There’s no connection to the clinic on the inside, however.”
“Great—well, at least it’s summer.” Evelyn would hate to climb those open wooden steps to the second floor in the winter. She wouldn’t be here then.
A shudder ran down her spine as she thought of those cold Alaska nights. How the sun had set early, the northern lights had shone and there had been hot chocolate by the fire with her father in the cabin.
He had read to her for hours, until her eyes were so heavy that he’d had to carry her to bed and tuck her in while the snowstorms had raged outside her window.
