Badge of Honor: Clare Instalove, #1

By India Lord

Scars—a badge of honor denoting strength.

 

Milly

My hellish month is looking up!

I've scored a private nursing job.

No more sleeping in my car, stressing about my debts.

My patient is a military man. Gorgeous. Tattooed. Built. He's also temporarily blind and tries to sack me during my first hour on the job.

I'm way past desperate, so let him try to banish me.

 

Connor

All I want is to recover and return to my men in Afghanistan.

The problem is without my sight, I'm helpless as a kitten.

My family treats me like a child. When they get tired of my temper, they hire her.

The woman is determined, I'll give her that, and there's something about her that intrigues me, makes my mind wander to kissing and pleasure and soft curves.

Too bad we have no future.

 

Contains a grumpy, injured military man, a scarred nurse, and a little small town instalove, which makes everything better.

• Language: English
• Publisher: India Lord
• Release date: Dec 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781991063410

Book preview

Badge of Honor

A Steamy Small-Town Romance

India Lord

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Munro Press

Badge of Honor

Copyright © 2022 by Shelley Munro

ISBN: Digital 978-1-99-106341-0

Editor: Evil Eye Editing

Cover: Sarah Kil Creative Studio

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of a brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Munro Press, New Zealand.

First Munro Press electronic publication December 2022

Contents

Introduction

1.Milly

2.Connor

3.Milly

4.Milly

5.Milly

6.Connor

7.Milly

8.Connor

9.Milly

10.Connor

11.Milly

12.Milly

13.Epilogue - Milly

About India

Also By India

Introduction

Scars—a badge of honor denoting strength.

Milly

My hellish month is looking up!

I’ve scored a private nursing job.

No more sleeping in my car, stressing about my debts.

My patient is a military man. Gorgeous. Tattooed. Built. He’s also temporarily blind and tries to sack me during my first hour on the job.

I’m way past desperate, so let him try to banish me.

Connor

All I want is to recover and return to my men in Afghanistan.

The problem is without my sight, I’m helpless as a kitten.

My family treats me like a child. When they get tired of my temper, they hire her.

The woman is determined, I’ll give her that. But there’s something about her that intrigues me, makes my mind wander to kissing and pleasure and soft curves.

Too bad we have no future.

Contains a grumpy, injured military man, a scarred nurse, and a little small town instalove, which makes everything better.

1

Milly

My mud-brown Toyota spluttered beneath the oak trees and whined and groaned its way up the concrete rise toward the Sullivan country estate. The Sullivans were one of the wealthiest families in the small New Zealand town of Clare, and I was their newest employee. I gripped the wheel and tried to ignore the mid-morning summer heat and the prickle of perspiration beneath my nurse’s uniform.

Everything would be fine once I arrived.

It had to be since I was out of options.

A set of wrought-iron gates appeared before me when I rounded the corner. The woman at the employment agency had warned me about the high level of security and given me instructions.

I coasted to a stop and lowered my window to a blast of fragrant foliage and parched grass. My sweaty forefinger stabbed the call button.

Yes? a harsh male voice said.

I’m Millicent Jones. The nurse for Connor Sullivan. The agency sent me.

Follow the signs for the staff car park. The housekeeper will meet you.

The intercom clicked off abruptly, and the gates slid open, so I hurriedly drove through and tried not to gawk at the mansion before me. It was an architectural marvel designed to integrate with nature. All sexy angles and sparkling glass, the building reminded me of a confident modern miss who knew her worth. In my imagination, she raised her eyebrows and sneered at me.

Hired help.

A carved wooden signpost guided me to the staff car park, where my poor Toyota was as out of place as me. Too bad. I grabbed my handbag, my introductory letter, and climbed from my car. My suitcase could wait until later. Nothing about this job would send me fleeing.

Nothing.

I was too desperate to earn the promised and generous wage.

My chance to start over. I’d rebuild my life and…

Aware of my thoughts drifting, I straightened my agency uniform and strode to the door. It opened before I grasped the ornate lion knocker. A tall brunette woman smiled at me. She had impeccable makeup and wore black pants and a white blouse with a lace collar. A subtle floral perfume wafted from her.

You must be Millicent Jones. Come this way, and I’ll show you to Connor’s room. Mrs. Sullivan is expecting you.

Call me Milly, I said with an answering smile.

Carolyn Fielding. I’m the housekeeper. Her gaze settled on the half of my face that bore a network of scars. I think you’ll please Mrs. Sullivan.

I sucked in a breath, unsure of how to take this conversational gem. People always stared at me. My scars weren’t pretty, but I was alive. My parents and older brother hadn’t been so lucky.

Carolyn set a rapid pace, leading me through a pristine kitchen, equipped with gleaming gadgets and copper pans, into a carpeted passage, and up a curved set of stairs to the second floor.

What the heck had the housekeeper meant by her comment? My mind groped for understanding while attempting to take in my luxurious surroundings. Nerves over the new job swirled in my gut. As I trotted after Carolyn, raised voices broke through my unease.

The housekeeper slowed at an f-bomb explosion before squaring her shoulders and continuing. A woman’s voice broke the silence, the words indistinct. A succinct reply lobbed back, and it became clear my presence wasn’t required or welcome.

Adrenaline shot through me, and my breath caught in my throat. The beads of sweat that had dried in the air-conditioned atmosphere burst into prominence again, making my stiff tunic top plaster to my spine.

The urge to flee zipped to life, but I rooted my feet and fought to remain calm. No, this couldn’t happen. No matter the obstacles, I would not falter. I refused to sleep in my car for yet another scary night.

I am going back to the army, dammit, and none of you can stop me, the f-bomb dropping voice roared.

Calm down, Connor. It was the woman again, presumably his mother.

A third voice, also masculine, spoke up. How can you return to the army when you can’t see? You’re blind. That makes running around in camo gear and aiming guns difficult, don’t you think?

The callous remark had me bursting into the room. I marched toward a king-size bed and planted my hands on my hips.

My patient sat on the edge of the bed, pristine white bandages covering his eyes and winding around his head, while a platinum blonde with a jaunty jaw-length cut stood nearby and wrung her hands. The redness of her eyes suggested recent crying, and her bottom lip still wobbled. A suit-clad man with black curls stood at the foot of the bed, hands on hips, and glaring at my patient.

After my brief scan of the room, I turned to Mrs. Sullivan. Hello, I’m Millicent Jones, the agency nurse.

Jocelyn Sullivan. Her gaze zapped to my face, skittered across my scar, and wrenched away. My disfigured face always threw people. They fell into two groups. The polite ones who made me uncomfortable with the way they refused to look at me, and the nosy ones who couldn’t tear their eyes off my ruined cheek and jawline. The second type usually