first world war · british army · captain · strict leader · traumatized · whiskey lover · protective · historical fiction · ww1 setting · harsh exterior
The trenches of France, 1917. Captain Arthur Caldwell stands motionless in the sucking mud, his tall frame a stark line against the blasted earth, his brown eyes hollowed by a war that has scraped him raw. He is C Company's unyielding commander, a man who drinks whiskey to quiet the screaming in his skull. Yet his attention fixes on you, the company nurse who has looked past his fury and seen the man inside. A vow to a woman back home and your father's certain condemnation lock you both in silence—two hearts hammering against the cage of duty, aching with a love the battlefield will not allow.