Enticing
the Spymaster
War Girls, Book Two
War Girls, Book Two
Julie
Rowe
Genre:
Historical romance, medical romance
Publisher:
Carina Press
Date
of Publication: June 3, 2013
ISBN:
978-14268-9556-2
ASIN:
B00BZPJSV6
Number
of pages: 153
Word
Count: 34,000
Cover
Artist: Millennium Promotions, Inc.
Book
Description:
German-occupied
Brussels, Belgium, April 1915
Judith
Goddard is hiding in plain sight. A dual citizen with family ties to
Belgian royalty and the British military, she works as a Red Cross
nurse in a German hospital, learning what she can, ever fearful her
true allegiance will be discovered.
British
Expeditionary Force Captain Michael Lawrence is on a mission to
rescue the daughter of his mentor. He doesn't expect to find a strong
beautiful woman in place of the naïve girl whose love he rejected
years earlier.
Jude
is shocked when Michael turns up in her hospital, wounded and in
German uniform. Though he broke her heart, she agrees to flee Belgium
with him—she has information about an imminent attack that she must
deliver to the British War Office, before it's too late.
Posing
as a married couple, Jude and Michael journey to the border, in
constant danger of discovery—and of giving in to their mutual
passion…
Brussels,
Belgium
April
16, 1915
The
ballroom of the Belgian Royal Palace had rarely been this full. Not
even on special occasions when the royal family invited guests from
around the world to celebrate momentous events.
Judith
Goddard stood in the main doorway, looked out across the room and
swallowed a mouthful of worry and fear. So many men in the room, most
young, one hundred sixty-three at last count, but she wished it were
empty. She wished none of them were here at all.
A
ballroom like this should be filled with music, light and elegantly
dressed couples dancing to an orchestra. Not rows of wounded men,
their clothing torn and bloody, their groans and harsh whispers the
only sounds. But the rank smell of burnt flesh and old blood
overpowered everything else. She stepped inside, approaching one of
the wounded who'd just come out of surgery, and wondered if the
stench would ever come out of her hair or clothes.
Possibly,
if one used enough soap.
Would
it be possible to wash away the smells of suffering and death from
her memory?
Unlikely.
Since
the war started, she'd seen a never-ending stream of wounded. The
palace had been completely overrun by the German army at the
beginning of their aggression. First as a military headquarters, but
within weeks the larger ballroom had been converted into a hospital.
She
focused on the man she was caring for, bandaging his leg where the
surgeon had stitched the skin closed. There wasn't time for
woolgathering.
There
wasn't even time for regrets.
"Nurse?
Nurse, can you help my friend?"
Judith
looked up...and discovered the last man she expected.
Shock
held her immobile for several long moments as she gazed into the face
of Captain Michael Lawrence, a protégé of her father. A man who
shouldn't be in the middle of an enemy hospital, miles behind enemy
lines, surrounded by enemy soldiers. A man she'd been in love with
for years.
Her
heart pounded out a fast tango in her ears as she stared at him wide
eyed, taking in his muddy clothing. Michael, a proud member of the
British Expeditionary Force, was wearing a German infantry uniform.
Frowning,
she opened her mouth to demand an answer to the first of many
questions, but he spoke before she could with a sad, tired lift to
one side of his lips.
"Please,
a little water."
Wearing
a German uniform and speaking German with the accent of a man from
Hamburg.
Behind
him, a wave of men staggered into the once elegant ballroom. Some on
their own, most in pairs and threes holding each other up, all of
them wounded. Nurses directed them to any open space.
She
swallowed her questions. "Yes, of course. I'll be right there."
She tied a knot in the bandage, securing it around the stump that
used to be a leg. Thank God the soldier was still unconscious.
Watching
Michael out of the corner of her eye, she washed her hands in a basin
of bloody water with a narrow bar of strong soap, then shook them
dry. He led her across the ballroom, manoeuvring around gurneys, cots
and pallets littering the floor.
Michael
brought her to a man whose breathing was visibly fast and shallow.
She grabbed a canteen of clean water and knelt next to him. "Here's
the water. Drink it slow."
He
pursed his mouth to catch the precious liquid, but his lips wavered
and his head dropped back so it spilled across his face.
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About
the Author:
Julie
Rowe’s first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took
her to the North West Territories and northern Alberta, where she
still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance
novels, but admits she’ll never be able to write about all her
medical experiences because, “No one would believe them!”. In
addition to writing contemporary and historical medical romance, and
fun romantic suspense for Entangled Publishing and Carina Press,
Julie has a short story in the Mammoth Book of Medical Romance.
Her
book SAVING THE RIFLEMAN (WAR GIRLS) won the novella category of the
Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Her writing has also appeared in
several magazines such as Today’s Parent, Reader’s Digest
(Canada), and Canadian Living.
You
can reach her at www.julieroweauthor.com
, on Twitter
@julieroweauthor or at her Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/JulieRoweAuthor
Website:
www.julieroweauthor.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/JulieRoweAuthor
Twitter:
@julieroweauthor
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