Rodney: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance by Kathi Barton (i wanna iguana read aloud TXT) 📗

taken three more calls. One of them was asking him if he’d come to the school tomorrow morning to greet the dentist he’d set up. The second one was telling him that the building he’d put his practice in had been updated with new signs, as well as three more rooms that were to be added to the rear of the place had been started on. He thought that was exciting.

Taking the third call, he’d been almost afraid to answer it. It was from a number that he didn’t know. Answering it with just his last name, he waited while the person on the other end decided to either speak or get off the line. When the male voice asked if he was Rodney, he asked who the person was calling for him.

“We went to college together. Had a couple of classes. Not that we were friends or anything, but we did have the— Sorry. I’m digressing here. I’m looking for a job as a physician. I’ve just heard there was a shakeup at the hospital where you’re from. I applied there before but wasn’t…let’s just say I wasn’t what they were looking for at the time. I was interviewed by a woman by the name of Beth Handy.” Rodney glanced at Rebel when the man mentioned Beth. “I’m getting ahead of myself. My name is Howard Benson. I’d very much like to move to your area and raise my family there. I’m sure you’re going to have to do a full background check on me. I’d be doing the same thing.”

“Doctor Benson, I’m not in charge of the hiring at the hospital.” Howard, as he was asked to call him, said he’d been given his number to call. “Can you hang on just a moment? I’m driving. Or better yet, how about I call you back when I get home? That’ll be in about ten minutes or so. I should be able to run down what’s going on. I’m usually the last to know.”

The man laughed. Rodney didn’t know why, but he thought that was a good sign. “I’ll tell you what, Rodney. If you’d be so kind as to give me your email address, I’ll mail you all the things you need to do a background check on me.” Rodney gave him his toss-away account email address, the one he used for strangers or just to check prices on things. “All right. I’ll look forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much for your time.”

After hanging up, Rebel placed a call to Harris to see if she knew what was going on. When she said she’d just put the ad in the paper about hiring new staff, he was surprised. Rebel asked her if she’d given Howard Rodney’s number.

“No, I’d not do that to you without telling you first. I’m betting it was someone at the hospital. Though why they’d do that is beyond me. But I can and will do a check on him for us. That way, we can start filling the positions as soon as we can.” Rebel asked how many people had quit over the Beth thing. “Six nurses, but I was going to have to fire them anyway. They were part of the trouble your family was having. Five doctors have also been terminated, not by me, but by Whit. He’s cleaning house, it looks like. Which is something he should have done a while ago. He’s also setting up a whole new set of rules to go by there. I think keeping him on was one of the better calls made with this thing.”

“I’ve never had any trouble with him. The reason for that is I never saw him. He was forever out of his office on one thing or another.” Harris said he’d told her that he was going to be working the halls more, as well as being in his office during posted hours. “If he’d done that in the first— No. He’d have not done anything, I don’t think, if I had gone to him.”

“More than likely not. But he is a man on a mission now. It could be that he gave the man your number in order for you to do just what you did. Call me. I don’t know, but I’m pulling him up as we speak.” She went over the things she’d found as they pulled into the driveway. With them sitting in the car, Harris finished up with the background she had found. “Of course, I’ll do a deeper look into his life. But as for what I have about him now, he’s not perfect, which is something you don’t want to find, but he does look like a hell of a doctor.”

“He sent me his resume through email. I’ll forward it on to you.” She said she would use it, but it wasn’t necessary. Not for her. “Be that as it may, I’m going to follow the rules as well. Did you have a chance to see if Rebel has her privileges reinstated?”

“Yes. And yes, she can work there as well. I’m to understand, Rebel, that you’ve allowed students to follow you for college credits?” Rebel said she’d done it, but not in the United States. “I’ll look into that as well if you would continue to do that. I know Rodney does it a little as well. There is a huge tax break for allowing students to understudy, or whatever it’s called, for the hospital. They’re going to need everything they can get at this point.”

Taking his phone out of the holder, he entered the house. Grandda gave him a knowing look and said he was going to turn in early. Rebel went to the kitchen, and Rodney went to his office. The sooner he was able to get off the call to Harris, the quicker he could get upstairs and ravage his mate. When Harris told him she had the email, he asked her if there was anything else he could