The Doctor's Undoing. Allie Pleiter

      

      Healing the Doctor’s Heart

      When Dr. Daniel Parker requested an army nurse to help with his orphanage, he expected an organized, sensible matron. Instead he gets young, beautiful, obstinate Ida Lee Landway, whose vibrant outlook and unrelenting optimism turn his work and his life inside out.

      Army life was easy compared to the discipline at her new workplace. Yet Ida is immediately smitten by the children in her care…and impressed by Daniel’s unfaltering dedication. Adding color and warmth to her new surroundings is one thing. Can she also help the good doctor embrace joy—and in so doing, find the family they both deserve?

      He crossed his arms over his chest, teasing in his eyes.

      “Am I to understand you are both asking permission and waiting for approval? Are you quite sure you’re Ida Landway?”

      Something fell away between them. The carefully tended wall of employer and employee slipped down to reveal a timid, fresh partnership that went beyond children, medicine or education. When she heard him say her name, her view of him shifted from Dr. Parker the institution and took a small step toward Daniel Parker the man. The man who had just brought her paint to bring beauty into this tiny world they shared.

      “Quite sure,” she said, wishing the words did not sound so breathless. “Thank you. Thank you more than you can ever know.”

      “The sky blue is my favorite,” he said in the tone of a secret. “What’s yours?”

      “All of them. Every single one of them.”

      There was a moment of powerful silence, as if the air itself had changed between them. Ida wanted to look anywhere but into his eyes, but at the same time couldn’t pull her gaze away from their intensity. He seemed both bothered and more comfortable, which made no sense at all.

      ALLIE PLEITER, an award-winning author and RITA® Award finalist, writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion for knitting shows up in many of her books and all over her life. Entirely too fond of French macarons and lemon meringue pie, Allie spends her days writing books and avoiding housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a BS in speech from Northwestern University and lives near Chicago, Illinois.

      The Doctor’s Undoing

      Allie Pleiter

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.

      —Genesis 9:16

      To clever, long-suffering, much-needed school nurses everywhere

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Bible Verse

       Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Chapter Twenty-Four

       Chapter Twenty-Five

       Epilogue

       Dear Reader

       Extract

       Copyright

Chapter One

      July 1919 Charleston, South Carolina

      Brr. Cold.

      For July in Charleston, South Carolina, that was quite a feat. The shiver that ran down Ida Lee Landway’s back had nothing to do with the afternoon’s heat—which was oppressive—but everything to do with the frosty feeling coming from the