Claiming the Ice

He's the coach who kept the team alive on duct tape and stubbornness. She's the reluctant new owner who never planned to fall for him - or this town.

Maren Kellan built a career two thousand miles from anywhere that could break her heart. Then a lawyer's phone call hands her something she never asked for: her late uncle's struggling minor-league hockey team, a mountain of debt, and four months to save it from a developer circling like a vulture.

Jonah Ashford has spent six years holding the Pine Hollow Timberwolves together with his bare hands, and he's got zero patience for a city girl who's going to sell the team out from under him the second it gets inconvenient. Except she doesn't sell. She stays. She fights. And somewhere between a leaking compressor, a town hall showdown, and a storm neither of them saw coming, "business partners" stops covering what's actually happening between them.

Now the team's future hangs on a council vote, a rival developer is playing dirty, and Maren has to decide how much she's willing to risk - her inheritance, her heart, her whole careful life - for a coach, a town, and a team worth fighting for.

A grumpy-coach, off-limits-owner, small-town sports romance with a slow burn, a swoony forced-proximity storm scene, and a happily ever after worth cheering for.

What readers can expect:

- A gruff, protective hockey coach hero who says more with actions than words

- A determined heroine who refuses to give up on something worth saving

- Small-town charm, found family, and a whole community rooting for them

- Slow-burn tension, a forced-proximity storm scene, and a swoony declaration in front of the whole town

- A clean, closed-door romance with real emotional stakes and a satisfying HEA