The Wayward Wanderers

“She snuck aboard his yacht to expose him. The storm locked her in his suite instead.”

Freelance journalist Beatrix Vance has one day to land a career-saving story or watch her grandfather’s legacy die with the local paper. So she forges her way onto The Sterling Crest, the eco-yacht of reclusive green-tech billionaire Julian Sterling, hunting the truth behind his guarded empire.

Then a tropical storm fries the ship’s systems, a keycard glitch hands her the master suite, and the harbor locks down. One bed. One border drawn down the carpet. And one infuriating man twelve years her senior who wants her gone — until a leaked photo forces them into the performance of their lives.

Their corporate backers demand a romance for the cameras. It would save his life’s work and her future both — if pretending didn’t keep feeling unbearably real, and if Beatrix weren’t still sitting on the exposé that could break his trust forever.

Alternating First Person (Beatrix & Julian) • HEA

“He runs the ship by the rulebook. She’s the variable he can’t control.”

Documentary photographer Nell Thorne boards The Sterling Crest to prove she’s a real artist, not a flighty amateur with a fancy lens. The immovable object between her and the perfect shot is Alistair Sinclair — the ship’s stone-faced safety director, thirteen years her senior, who treats her spontaneity like a hazard to be neutralized.

Then a booking disaster floods the passenger deck and strands Nell in Alistair’s private cabin, with a single bed and a bolster pillow drawn down the middle like a border. Their fragile truce shatters the moment an accidental livestream of the two of them goes viral — and the sponsors decide the stiff safety director and his vibrant stowaway are the romance of the season.

Faking it should have been simple. But his guard keeps slipping, the woman who hides behind her lens keeps letting him in, and only one thing can show Nell what he truly feels — the one device that never lies.

Alternating First Person (Nell & Alistair) • HEA

“She broadcasts joy for a living. He runs a tight ship and a tighter heart.”

Cleo Bright built a digital family on pure sunshine, and one luxury sponsorship will finally make it real. All she has to do is film a flawless voyage aboard The Sterling Crest — and survive its captain. Harrison Croft runs his ship on rules, checklists, and a locked-down heart, and he considers Cleo’s neon-pink tripod a safety hazard with very good hair.

Then a storm floods Cleo’s cabin and maroons her in the captain’s private quarters, behind a strip of pink tape she insists is an international border. With a meddling steward fanning the flames and the sponsors demanding a love story, the grumpiest man on the ocean and the brightest woman aboard agree to fake it for the metrics.

When the executive pulling the strings airs a private moment that was never meant for the world, the trust they built shatters — and Cleo decides the only way to win is to seize his global broadcast and tell the truth on her own terms.

Alternating First Person (Cleo & Harrison) • HEA