On the Hoof — Brenda Gable

Maria Angelique is on the endangered species list. Avoiding a detestable fiancé name Nuzi Batik and living in Reno, she’s witnessed a Mafia hit and every moment she delays escaping town, she draws closer to extinction. Stopping to collect her salary and a few necessities to live on, her extraction plan is abruptly dashed. Chad Smith is in town on a cattle convention. He’s escaping the filial duties of running the family ranch and procreating an heir. He’s been visited nightly in his dreams by a lush enticing succubus. Possessing ebony hair cascading over her shoulders, rips lush for kissing, and enticing Aegean green eyes, she is his dream woman and she is in the flesh walking past him. He runs after her only to stumble onto assailants trying to kidnap his dream woman. His impromptu rescue places him in Maria’s debt. Unable to shake the blond Adonis away from her for his own safety, Maria flees with him to her people—the Romani—for shelter. The attraction between Maria and Chad is magnetic, but their love cannot be. She is a Romani, he is a Gadjo, non-Romani. Her culture forbids marriage between them. As a high ranking member of the clan, she must marry a member of the Rom. However, there are two loopholes. Her fiancé’s father could break the marriage contract between her and Nuzi or a champion of Romani blood could come forward and challenge her fiancé in a battle to the death. But Chad is Gadjo and is not eligible under their laws to compete for her. When Maria prays to Saint Sara, the patron saint of fate, she is answered. As tensions mount and cultures clash, the subtle hand of Fate weaves it’s way into a chilling fight to the death.