Book three of War Girls
German-occupied Brussels, Belgium
December 1915
Rose Culver is in grave danger. For months the Red Cross head nurse has been aiding Allied soldiers caught behind enemy lines, helping them flee into neutral Netherlands. It's only a matter of time until she's caught. Which makes it the wrong time to fall in love with a handsome German military doctor as devoted to the sanctity of human life as she is.
The Great War has caused Dr. Herman Geoff to question everything he once believed. He knows Rose has been hiding British soldiers in her hospital—he's even treated some of them, refusing to go against his own Hippocratic oath. As a doctor, he admires Rose's skill and conviction. As a man, he can no longer deny his attraction to her. But when Rose is arrested for treason, Herman must choose between love for her and duty to his country...
For more tales of love and war, download Saving the Rifleman and Enticing the Spymaster, available now!
The 2014 novella category winner of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence!
Review of AIDING THE ENEMY: “A beautifully written story of love blooming in the unlikeliest place.” http://bit.ly/1bsvVlk
Excerpt:
Chapter One
“Ambulances are at the door, Nurse Culver.”
The shout brought Rose’s head up and she paused in the process of changing a soldier’s bandage. The orderly standing in the doorway wasn’t one of her favourites. Inattentive to patients and lazy and argumentative with the nursing staff, there were moments when she believed his only purpose at her hospital was to watch rather than help his fellow man.
“How many?”
“Two, both full. Dr. Geoff has requested you.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I finish with this fellow.”
Carl’s response was a sullen sneer, but he didn’t argue, just disappeared out of sight. If only he’d leave altogether and stay gone.
As soon as she finished with her patient, she hurried down to the kitchen and out the back door to dispose of the soiled bandages in the stone-lined burn pit behind the garden.
As she dumped the bandages in, she noticed a man sitting on the ground, leaning against the pit on the opposite side. His eyes were closed.
“Excuse me, sir, but this isn’t a good place to rest,” she said in German. Any other language was dangerous to use.
He opened his eyes and got to his feel slowly. His hair was cut short but uneven, as if he’d done it himself without the benefit of a mirror. Dressed in dirty farming clothes, he looked as if he could use another twenty pounds on his tall frame to look healthy.
He examined her nursing apron then said in English, “I need help.”
“Are you injured?”
“No. I’m British and I’m trying to get out of the country.”
Hearing her mother tongue didn’t reassure her. On the contrary, German investigators had approached her pretending to be British soldiers searching for a way home before. Their subtle accents gave them away, but she needed to hear more to know if this one’s was genuine or not.
“Anyone caught helping British soldiers is arrested.”
“Yes, ma’am, but I was told you could help me.”
He sounded like he’d never been away from England, his accent that of a man from Lincolnshire, her own birthplace. Still, caution urged her to test him further. “Everyone here needs help. This is a hospital.”
He shook his head. “Look, I’m from Lincoln. A yeller belly.”
“Really?” The term was fairly well-known. “Why didn’t you come to the front door? You’re dressed like a Belgian.”
“Because front doors are for three things—brides, babies and coffins. I’m not the first two and I’m trying to avoid the last.”
A local superstition in Lincoln, not something a casual visitor would know.
Damn it, she didn’t have time for this. Carl or Dr. Geoff could come looking for her at any moment.
“Wait in the shed for me.” She pointed at the small square building in the corner of the yard. “There are a couple of apple barrels you can hide in. I’ll be out when I can.”
Tension leeched out of the man’s shoulders. “Thank you.”
“It might be hours.”
“I’m happy to wait.” He smiled. “I haven’t slept in what seems like weeks, ma’am.”
She nodded and rushed back into the hospital. The last thing she saw was the man vanishing into the shed.
Heaven help both of them if he were discovered.
After a quick wash of her hands in the kitchen, Rose joined the rest of the staff and Dr. Geoff tending the newly arrived patients. There were six all together. Four had similar leg injuries, which caused her to raise her eyebrows. Could the wounds have been purposely inflicted?
She wasn’t the only one who suspected it.
“How did all of you get virtually the same wounds?” Dr. Geoff asked in his typical gruff manner. Someone who didn’t know him might assume he was angry, but his grumpy attitude was his way of dealing with what he called the stupidity of war. Especially if men deliberately hurt themselves so they’d be sent away from the front line.
One of the German soldiers replied in a respectful tone, “We’d climbed over the top and were advancing towards the enemy’s position when we ran into a fresh string of barbed wire. The wire was attached to a grenade and while we tried to get untangled, it went off. Two men were killed instantly and we four suffered leg wounds. If Kurt, one of the dead, hadn’t been next to me, we would have all been killed.”
“His body shielded the rest of you from the blast?”
The soldier nodded.
Dr. Geoff grunted. “Be sure to write to his family and tell them he died honourably saving the lives of his fellow soldiers.”
“We will, sir.”
Dr. Geoff glanced at her. His shoulders relaxed, his gaze warmed and it seemed as if he took in every detail. “There you are.”
“My apologies, Doctor. There was a farmer at the back door requesting a midwife. I gave him her direction and sent him on his way.” How many times had she used that excuse or some variation thereof? Ten? Twenty?
German-occupied Brussels, Belgium
December 1915
Rose Culver is in grave danger. For months the Red Cross head nurse has been aiding Allied soldiers caught behind enemy lines, helping them flee into neutral Netherlands. It's only a matter of time until she's caught. Which makes it the wrong time to fall in love with a handsome German military doctor as devoted to the sanctity of human life as she is.
The Great War has caused Dr. Herman Geoff to question everything he once believed. He knows Rose has been hiding British soldiers in her hospital—he's even treated some of them, refusing to go against his own Hippocratic oath. As a doctor, he admires Rose's skill and conviction. As a man, he can no longer deny his attraction to her. But when Rose is arrested for treason, Herman must choose between love for her and duty to his country...
For more tales of love and war, download Saving the Rifleman and Enticing the Spymaster, available now!
The 2014 novella category winner of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence!
Review of AIDING THE ENEMY: “A beautifully written story of love blooming in the unlikeliest place.” http://bit.ly/1bsvVlk
Excerpt:
Chapter One
“Ambulances are at the door, Nurse Culver.”
The shout brought Rose’s head up and she paused in the process of changing a soldier’s bandage. The orderly standing in the doorway wasn’t one of her favourites. Inattentive to patients and lazy and argumentative with the nursing staff, there were moments when she believed his only purpose at her hospital was to watch rather than help his fellow man.
“How many?”
“Two, both full. Dr. Geoff has requested you.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I finish with this fellow.”
Carl’s response was a sullen sneer, but he didn’t argue, just disappeared out of sight. If only he’d leave altogether and stay gone.
As soon as she finished with her patient, she hurried down to the kitchen and out the back door to dispose of the soiled bandages in the stone-lined burn pit behind the garden.
As she dumped the bandages in, she noticed a man sitting on the ground, leaning against the pit on the opposite side. His eyes were closed.
“Excuse me, sir, but this isn’t a good place to rest,” she said in German. Any other language was dangerous to use.
He opened his eyes and got to his feel slowly. His hair was cut short but uneven, as if he’d done it himself without the benefit of a mirror. Dressed in dirty farming clothes, he looked as if he could use another twenty pounds on his tall frame to look healthy.
He examined her nursing apron then said in English, “I need help.”
“Are you injured?”
“No. I’m British and I’m trying to get out of the country.”
Hearing her mother tongue didn’t reassure her. On the contrary, German investigators had approached her pretending to be British soldiers searching for a way home before. Their subtle accents gave them away, but she needed to hear more to know if this one’s was genuine or not.
“Anyone caught helping British soldiers is arrested.”
“Yes, ma’am, but I was told you could help me.”
He sounded like he’d never been away from England, his accent that of a man from Lincolnshire, her own birthplace. Still, caution urged her to test him further. “Everyone here needs help. This is a hospital.”
He shook his head. “Look, I’m from Lincoln. A yeller belly.”
“Really?” The term was fairly well-known. “Why didn’t you come to the front door? You’re dressed like a Belgian.”
“Because front doors are for three things—brides, babies and coffins. I’m not the first two and I’m trying to avoid the last.”
A local superstition in Lincoln, not something a casual visitor would know.
Damn it, she didn’t have time for this. Carl or Dr. Geoff could come looking for her at any moment.
“Wait in the shed for me.” She pointed at the small square building in the corner of the yard. “There are a couple of apple barrels you can hide in. I’ll be out when I can.”
Tension leeched out of the man’s shoulders. “Thank you.”
“It might be hours.”
“I’m happy to wait.” He smiled. “I haven’t slept in what seems like weeks, ma’am.”
She nodded and rushed back into the hospital. The last thing she saw was the man vanishing into the shed.
Heaven help both of them if he were discovered.
After a quick wash of her hands in the kitchen, Rose joined the rest of the staff and Dr. Geoff tending the newly arrived patients. There were six all together. Four had similar leg injuries, which caused her to raise her eyebrows. Could the wounds have been purposely inflicted?
She wasn’t the only one who suspected it.
“How did all of you get virtually the same wounds?” Dr. Geoff asked in his typical gruff manner. Someone who didn’t know him might assume he was angry, but his grumpy attitude was his way of dealing with what he called the stupidity of war. Especially if men deliberately hurt themselves so they’d be sent away from the front line.
One of the German soldiers replied in a respectful tone, “We’d climbed over the top and were advancing towards the enemy’s position when we ran into a fresh string of barbed wire. The wire was attached to a grenade and while we tried to get untangled, it went off. Two men were killed instantly and we four suffered leg wounds. If Kurt, one of the dead, hadn’t been next to me, we would have all been killed.”
“His body shielded the rest of you from the blast?”
The soldier nodded.
Dr. Geoff grunted. “Be sure to write to his family and tell them he died honourably saving the lives of his fellow soldiers.”
“We will, sir.”
Dr. Geoff glanced at her. His shoulders relaxed, his gaze warmed and it seemed as if he took in every detail. “There you are.”
“My apologies, Doctor. There was a farmer at the back door requesting a midwife. I gave him her direction and sent him on his way.” How many times had she used that excuse or some variation thereof? Ten? Twenty?