Barrel Proof

So much for staying away from each other.

Senator Coraleigh Boyle and Clay London clash over an historic battlefield under threat of becoming a luxury resort. Coraleigh is determined to save the property while Clay represents the developers eager to build. As they butt heads, they each nurse a broken heart from their on-off secret romance, which at the moment is decidedly off.

Coraleigh is not alone in her efforts. The citizens of Bourbon Springs, including the owners of the historic Old Garnet Bourbon Distillery, are also scrambling for miracle as well. Meanwhile, Clay just wants to get the deal done. Although he doesn’t show it, he is shattered at losing Coraleigh again. He even avoids driving through Bourbon Springs because it brings back too many memories of being there together with the woman he still desperately loves.

But all is not lost. In the end a surprising hero emerges to show Coraleigh that the solution to the problem had been right in front of her all along. And that sometimes, the strength and proof of one’s character can be discerned in the smallest of ways.

Barrel Proof, a  17,000-word contemporary romance short story, is the fourth work in the Bourbonland Short Stories and Novellas series. It takes place during Where the Fire Is Hottest, Bourbonland Book 3.