Adriana Kraft

When it's time to heat things up...

horse racing

“Very nice,” he drawled at last… #8Sunday #MFRWAuthor #RomanticSuspense

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Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where writers share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of their writing on Sunday.  Be sure to visit other participants at http://www.wewriwa.com/  and read and comment on their #8sunday posts.

Spread the word: Twitter hashtag #8sunday

Here’s more from Riders Up, Book One – think some sparks are gonna fly? Cassie’s prepping her horse for a race at a small Wyoming race track:

EXCERPT

The handsome stranger walked around the horse. “Very nice,” he drawled at last.

Cassie continued grooming, doing her best to ignore the man.

“You’re gonna wear a hole in that horse with all that hand rubbing,” he commented dryly.

Cassie straightened. Her lips flared. Her cheeks burned as if on fire. Her eyes bore into the man. “And just who the hell are you? And what gives you the right to criticize how I groom my horse? I’ve been tending horses since I was big enough to walk.”

 

High stakes, a fiery Irish redhead, her stunning racehorse, and a fiercely loyal rancher.

Cassie’s Hope
Series: Riders Up! Book One

B&B Publishing:
November, 2013

Ebook, Paperback
Novel: 71,000 words
Cover Artist: Rebecca Poole
Three flames:

Explicit sex: M/F

 

BLURB

What happens when a fiercely loyal widowed half-Ute cowboy meets a fiery redhead with an Irish temper to match? Cassidy O’Hanlon – Cassie, to her friends – has set aside her Chicago career for six months to train racehorses for her dad after his stroke.

Furious the interloper has shipped in a ringer from the Chicago circuit to his Wyoming turf, Rancher/trainer Clint Travers sets out to put her in her place. Sparks fly immediately, but after their rocky start, the two quickly forge a passionate relationship, and he follows her to Chicago.

When it becomes clear someone is drugging Cassie’s horse, Clint sets out to solve the mystery, but storms off in a cloud of wounded pride when suspicions turn to him.

Can love trump pride?

REVIEW

Five stars at Goodreads: “…I took their journey with them. I felt their pain, their sadness, their struggles, and most of all their love. And that is the mark of a truly good book.”  Faith

BUY LINK

Print and e-book: Amazon
Free at Kindle Unlimited

 

Be sure to stop by the rest of the
Weekend Writing Warriors at this LINK –
you’ll be glad you did!

Her toes curled involuntarily… #Sunday8 #MFRWAuthor #RomanticSuspense

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Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where writers share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of their writing on Sunday.  Be sure to visit other participants at http://www.wewriwa.com/  and read and comment on their #8sunday posts.

Spread the word: Twitter hashtag #8sunday

EXCERPT

The cowboy stepped closer. Cassie could make out a scowl. Dark eyes snapped a foreboding anger. Raven black hair framed chiseled features, searing them into Cassie’s brain. Her toes curled involuntarily. She rubbed Hope’s coat vigorously. Who the hell was he? And to top it off, he didn’t even seem to notice her. His eyes appraised only the horse.

 

High stakes, a fiery Irish redhead, her stunning racehorse, and a fiercely loyal rancher.

Cassie’s Hope
Series: Riders Up! Book One

B&B Publishing:
November, 2013

Ebook, Paperback
Novel: 71,000 words
Cover Artist: Rebecca Poole
Three flames:

Explicit sex: M/F

 

BLURB

What happens when a fiercely loyal widowed half-Ute cowboy meets a fiery redhead with an Irish temper to match? Cassidy O’Hanlon – Cassie, to her friends – has set aside her Chicago career for six months to train racehorses for her dad after his stroke.

Furious the interloper has shipped in a ringer from the Chicago circuit to his Wyoming turf, Rancher/trainer Clint Travers sets out to put her in her place. Sparks fly immediately, but after their rocky start, the two quickly forge a passionate relationship, and he follows her to Chicago.

When it becomes clear someone is drugging Cassie’s horse, Clint sets out to solve the mystery, but storms off in a cloud of wounded pride when suspicions turn to him.

Can love trump pride?

REVIEW

Five stars at Goodreads: “…I took their journey with them. I felt their pain, their sadness, their struggles, and most of all their love. And that is the mark of a truly good book.”  Faith

BUY LINK

Print and e-book: Amazon
Free at Kindle Unlimited

Be sure to stop by the rest of the
Weekend Writing Warriors at this LINK –
you’ll be glad you did!

Nice Lookin’ Filly…#MFRWAuthor #8Sunday #RomanticSuspense

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Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where writers share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of their writing on Sunday.  Be sure to visit other participants at http://www.wewriwa.com/  and read and comment on their #8sunday posts.

Spread the word: Twitter hashtag #8sunday

EXCERPT

Shaking her head, Cassie grabbed a hoof pick from her back pocket, lifted one of Hope’s front hooves, and began extracting dirt and pebbles.

“Nice lookin’ filly.”

Cassie groaned at the strange deep voice and the too-familiar line. Couldn’t men anywhere be a little more original?

Dropping the hoof, Cassie glanced across Hope’s back and gasped. The deeply tanned hunk behind the voice had shoulders that stretched taut a pale yellow polo shirt covered, in part, with a thin buckskin vest. The wide cowboy buckle appeared unnecessary to hold up well contoured Levi’s.

A sweat-stained brown Stetson, tipped low, cast a light shadow across his facial features. His worn boots were those of a working man. This was no drugstore cowboy.

About Cassie’s Hope

Did you know that in addition to our steamy erotic ménage romance stories, my husband and I also write romantic suspense? One man, one woman, danger and intrigue – always a happy ending, but oh, what a ride! Our Romantic Suspense line delivers “warmth, blazing hot sex, and well-developed characters” (Romance Junkies Reviews) as our hero and heroine battle outer threats and inner demons to stay alive and fall in love.

We love horses and have, at various points in our life, owned a couple thoroughbred race horses, a quarter horse who didn’t want to race and became a working cutting horse, and an arab/saddlebred who is now a dressage horse. We’ve been to the Kentucky Derby twice, the Belmont Stakes once, and the Arlington Million twice (none of our horses were at that level, of course). We put that passion and experience to work in a four book romantic suspense series set in the horse racing industry, Riders Up! Cassie’s Hope is Book One. The scene above is set at a small track in western Wyoming, where both our quarter horse and one of our thoroughbreds ran briefly.

 

High stakes, a fiery Irish redhead, her stunning racehorse, and a fiercely loyal rancher.

Cassie’s Hope
Series: Riders Up! Book One

B&B Publishing:
November, 2013

Ebook, Paperback
Novel: 71,000 words
Cover Artist: Rebecca Poole
Three flames:

Explicit sex: M/F

 

BLURB

What happens when a fiercely loyal widowed half-Ute cowboy meets a fiery redhead with an Irish temper to match? Cassidy O’Hanlon – Cassie, to her friends – has set aside her Chicago career for six months to train racehorses for her dad after his stroke.

Furious the interloper has shipped in a ringer from the Chicago circuit to his Wyoming turf, Rancher/trainer Clint Travers sets out to put her in her place. Sparks fly immediately, but after their rocky start, the two quickly forge a passionate relationship, and he follows her to Chicago.

When it becomes clear someone is drugging Cassie’s horse, Clint sets out to solve the mystery, but storms off in a cloud of wounded pride when suspicions turn to him.

Can love trump pride?

REVIEW

Five stars at Goodreads: “…I took their journey with them. I felt their pain, their sadness, their struggles, and most of all their love. And that is the mark of a truly good book.”  Faith

BUY LINK

Print and e-book: Amazon
Free at Kindle Unlimited

Be sure to stop by the rest of the
Weekend Writing Warriors at this LINK –
you’ll be glad you did!

Slow Dancing #MySexySaturday

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Welcome to another round of My Sexy Saturday, where authors offer seven words, sentences, or paragraphs from their work for your entertainment. Be sure to click on the graphic at the bottom of the page and visit the other participants.

This week’s theme is My Sexy New Year, celebrating new beginnings. Having a relationship with a man – any man – is definitely a new beginning for Traci Steele. She has yet to learn that the transition from victim to survivor is a choice within her power to make. We think maybe Scott McCord, with his gentle patient approach, might just be the key to help her make this discovery. Even so, it’s a long journey, with many twists and turns.

EXCERPT

Detour-Ahead-Ebook-web“Do you have any CDs for that CD player over there?” Scott asked.

“Some.”

“Anything slow we could dance to?”

Traci went into the bedroom and rummaged through her CD case. Her fingers felt like five thumbs. Finding what she wanted, she put it in the player, and soft music filled the room.

“Much better,” Scott said, rising from the couch and extending his hands to her.

She kicked off her flats and stepped into his arms. Was she in a trance? He held her close; her breasts nestled against his chest. It felt good. It felt right. Their feet hardly moved. They swayed to the music. There was no hurry.

She wanted to taste and savor the moment. The press of her body against his, his aftershave enticing her senses, his hand resting on her lower backside. Intimate and right. She didn’t want him to let go. Ever.

BLURB

Threatened race horses, city slicker attorney, sexy California wrangler—what can possibly go wrong?

Hot-shot Chicago prosecuting attorney Traci Steele works tirelessly keeping rapists off the street to prevent other women from suffering the hell she’s endured, so she resists her friends’ insistence that she take a two month R&R in their California Live Oak condo—until they persuade her to help their rancher friend as a private investigator.

Though he runs the stables at Live Oak, well-muscled mustached wrangler Scott McCord much prefers working with the race horses he trains at his ranch, and he can’t believe his old friends have sent a greenhorn female to help him with horse troubles.

The improbable dance between this mismatched pair barely fits in around the escalating suspense of whoever’s after Scott’s horses. Traci is as tenacious in her sleuthing as she is terrified about her inability to ever love a man. Can Scott succeed in gentling her – like he does his horses – before she flees in panic?

REVIEWS

Night Owl Reviews Top Pick This is a story about letting go of your past so you can move on to your future. It is a story about letting go of being the victim and becoming a survivor…Add into this touching story of recovery a mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end, and you’ve got a story you won’t be able to put down. Angi

You Gotta Read Reviews Rich in romance and suspense, this book had me mesmerized from the first page. I was definitely drawn toward the main character, Traci, and all of the emotional barriers that she faced… a sensational job of combining just the right amount of suspense with a sauciness that leaves you longing for more. Run, don’t walk to your nearest book store for this sensational book. Val

BUY LINK

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RPT6YJA/

THE SERIES

Series-Timeline

All four books in our Riders Up romantic suspense series are now available at Amazon. The books share some characters, but each can also be read as a standalone novel.

Cassie’s Hope (Book One) High stakes, a fiery Irish redhead, her stunning racehorse, and a fiercely loyal rancher

Heat Wave (Book Two) Hang onto the land – but at what cost? Feisty widow hires ace racehorse trainer to salvage her family’s heritage. Can they survive escalating threats to life and limb?

Willow Smoke (Book Three) When the chips are down, there’s nobody there.

Detour Ahead (Book Four) Threatened race horses, city slicker attorney, sexy California wrangler—what can possibly go wrong?

My Sexy Saturday Participants

Click on the links to travel to the other marvelous authors in this hop: