The Captain’s Cure

A broken soldier seeking silence. A sunny healer needing a savior. A love that defies the scars of the past. Major William Thorne returns from the Napoleonic Wars a hero in name but a wreck in reality. Tormented by a shattered leg and the thundering echoes of the battlefield, he is sent to the quiet island of Nevis to take the waters. Bitter, cynical, and in constant pain, William wants only one thing: to be left alone to rot in peace. But the inns are full, and William is forced into the cramped quarters of the local apothecary, run by the relentlessly cheerful Penelope Hastings. Penelope is everything William avoids. She is bright, talkative, and determined to fix him. Burdened by the shame of her father's embezzlement and the town's scorn, she sees William not as a grumpy boarder, but as a man in need of her unique care. When he refuses her treatments, she tricks him into becoming her "bodyguard" for dangerous hikes that double as physical therapy. As they trek through the lush island jungles, the friction between them sparks into a burning attraction. But just as William begins to heal, the Royal Army comes calling. Captain Sterling arrives with orders for William's return to glory—and an ultimatum that forbids him from associating with a criminal's daughter. William must choose: the rank and pension he bled for, or the penniless, peaceful future with the woman who healed his heart.