Blind Promises
Fall in love with Diana Palmer's fan-favorite story, BLIND PROMISES!Dana Steele's new patient, Gannon van der Vere, is a tough customer. He had run off his last four nurses, but Dana's determined she won't be the next on that list. A powerful entrepreneur until a devastating accident left his future in doubt, Gannon raged at all who approached him. Dana hoped to light a candle in his darkness–and to escape from the shadows in her own past. But when she fell in love with her curmudgeonly employer, Dana's challenge was no longer strictly professional. Could Dana and Gannon heal to find a true happily-ever-after?
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Fall in love with Diana Palmer’s fan-favorite story, BLIND PROMISES!
Dana Steele’s new patient, Gannon van der Vere, is a tough customer. He had run off his last four nurses, but Dana’s determined she won’t be the next on that list. A powerful entrepreneur until a devastating accident left his future in doubt, Gannon raged at all who approached him. Dana hoped to light a candle in his darkness—and to escape from the shadows in her own past. But when she fell in love with her curmudgeonly employer, Dana’s challenge was no longer strictly professional. Could Dana and Gannon heal to find a true happily-ever-after?
Praise for the reigning queen of romanceDIANA PALMER
“Palmer’s talent for character development and ability to fuse heartwarming romance with nail-biting suspense shines in Outsider.” —Booklist
“A gentle escape mixed with real-life menace for fans of Palmer’s more than 100 novels.”
—Publishers Weekly on Night Fever
“The ever-popular and prolific Palmer has penned another sure hit.”
—Booklist on Before Sunrise
“Nobody does it better.”
—New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard
“Palmer knows how to make the sparks fly…heartwarming.”
—Publishers Weekly on Renegade
“Readers who enjoy stories by authors who know how to pack an emotional wallop will add Palmer to their list.”
—Booklist on Renegade
It is such a pleasure to see this book back in print again. I wrote it under yet another pen name—Katy Currie—when I started out in romance fiction, and it has been out of print for many years. It is very special to me because I was going through some painful experiences in my own life at the time, primarily the death of my mother. The book was a way for me to deal with her loss, and subsequent painful events in my life.
I know from my reader mail that many of you turn to fiction to escape from painful realities, to find something to take you away from the pain, even for an hour or so. It may surprise you to learn that writers also escape into novels for the same reason. It is yet another bond between reader and writer, this need for a breathing space that makes us stronger and helps us to deal with the problems at hand.
One of the most comforting passages in the Bible is, to me, “…and this, too, shall pass away.” Even the most painful things do, you know, and God is always there to catch us if we fall.
God bless all of you. Thank you for letting me share my own dreams with you.
Love,
Diana Palmer
Contents
Dana came to with Mrs. Pibbs standing over her, taking her pulse. For just a moment she was back in her student nurse’s class six years earlier, watching Mrs. Pibbs give pointers on nursing procedure. But when she felt the stabs of pain in her head and the bruises on her slender body, she realized that she wasn’t in class. She was a patient in Ashton General Hospital.
Her face felt tight when she tried to speak, and her head throbbed abominably. “Mother…?” she managed weakly.
Mrs. Pibbs sighed, laying the long-fingered young hand down on the crisp white sheet. “I’m sorry, my dear,” she said gently.
Tears ran down the Nordic face, misting the soft brown eyes in their frame of tousled platinum-blond hair. She’d known before she asked the question. Her last memory was of her mother’s unnatural position in the metallic tangle of the front seat. But she’d hoped…
“Your father is here,” Mrs. Pibbs said.
Dana’s hurt eyes flashed. “No,” she said stiffly.
The older woman looked shocked. “You don’t want to see Mr. Steele?”
Dana’s eyes closed. After what her mother had confessed just before the wreck, she never wanted to see him again. “I don’t feel up to it,” she said tightly.
“You aren’t critically injured, Nurse,” Mrs. Pibbs reminded her in that tutor voice. “Just some bruises and a few deep lacerations; not even a broken bone. We’re observing you because of a concussion and shock more than for any great injury.”
“I know. Please, Mrs. Pibbs, I’m so tired,” she pleaded.
The plump woman’s hard face melted a little at the look. For all her facade of stone, she was a marshmallow inside. “All right,” she agreed finally. “I’ll tell him you aren’t up to it. Shall I ask him anything?”
Dana blinked her eyes. “The funeral arrangements…. Is my Aunt Helen taking care of those, or must I…?”
“Your aunt and I spoke briefly this morning. Everything is being taken care of,” came the quiet reply. “It’s to be tomorrow. Your aunt will be by later to explain.”
Dana nodded, closing her eyes wearily. It seemed like a nightmare. If only she could wake up!
“I’ll tell Mr. Steele you’re indisposed,” Mrs. Pibbs added formally, and left Dana alone.
Dana turned her face to the wall. She couldn’t bear even the sight of her father, the sound of his name. Poor little Mandy, poor little Mandy, who hadn’t the weapons to survive all alone after twenty-five years of being provided for. It was inevitable that she’d break eventually. For the first few weeks after the divorce was final, Dana had been on the lookout for it to happen. But it hadn’t, not even when Jack Steele announced his marriage to one of the women he worked with, a blond, motherly woman whom Dana had only seen once.
