V.S. Leclair

Telford Wainwright is a pragmatic chief sluice-engineer who relies on calculated hydraulic models to keep the regional grid alive. Morwenna Clayrow is an intuitive riverbank soil-steward who uses traditional sediment-terrace farming to protect community topsoil. When regional grid authorities mandate a catastrophic release of silt-choked floodwaters across the agricultural basin to prevent an urban blackout, their lives collide in the claustrophobic monitoring station of the estuary barrage. As they argue over water-displacement schedules and battle over temperamental valve servos, their mutual irritation sparks an intense physical attraction, forcing them to choose between their opposing duties and the growing bond between them.

Liselotte Duynhoven’s heirloom pear cider needs two things to ferment into perfection: gentle river motion and time. To bring her vintage to life, she charters a classic cargo barge along the winding Maas, ready for hard work and quiet water. She didn’t count on Captain Sander Klaaskerk. Tall, broad-shouldered, and fiercely protective of his vessel, Sander runs a tight ship and prefers to keep his distance from his spirited charter. But the intimacy of life on the water is impossible to resist. Between navigating misty river locks by day and sharing rich tastings in the wheelhouse by night, the spark between them flares into an intoxicating, slow-burning romance that neither of them can steer away from.