The Martiniere Legacy Series

What happens during first meetings resonates throughout the years 2029....Thirty years before the opening of THE MARTINIERE LEGACY, Ruby Barkley and Gabe Ramirez meet...and find each other interesting. Short story prequel with lots of horses in the science fiction.

YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE INHERITANCE OF THE PAST…OR CAN YOU?   Rancher Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabe Ramirez are competing head-to-head for the AgInnovator game show's new one-shot award, the Ag Superhero. The winner walks away with $3.75 million per year for five years, with no accountability or need to re-earn the Superhero, unlike the Innovator's other awards.   But issues beyond those raised by their long-ago acrimonious divorce face Ruby and Gabe. Fence cutting. Rogue biobots destructively ranging beyond programmed parameters. Physical attacks. And the realization that they may need to reunite to save their son Brandon from indentured servitude.   Then the secret shadow of Gabe's hidden inheritance reveals itself. Will he step up to the Martiniere Legacy—and what role will Ruby accept in any future they may share?

THEY'VE ALMOST REALIZED THEIR DREAMS…BUT CAN THEY REMAIN THEMSELVES?   The indentured labor wars heat up as Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere struggle with medical complications that interfere with their fight to stop the sinister goals of Gabe's father Philip. Discoveries by their son Brandon about the degree to which Philip and the family corporation, the Martiniere Group, are involved in unethical, interdicted human experimentation push them into accepting a questionable treatment to speed their recovery.   Philip's direct challenge initiates Gabe's final push to take over the Martiniere Group. Ruby and Brandon consolidate family support behind Gabe. When a high-profile assassination attempt at a political banquet reveals the existence of cyborged Martiniere descendants and clones of Philip intended to provide him with replacement parts, Ruby and Gabe must take action. One clone—Michael—still survives.   Along with their bid to win control of the Martiniere empire, Ruby and Gabe now face the dilemma of what is to be done with Michael. Can they save both the family and Philip's clone—or should they even try?   The realization of their dreams is within Ruby and Gabe's reach. Can they fulfill it while still remaining true to themselves?

WHAT DOES ASCENSION TO POWER REALLY COST?   Six months after the triumphant collaborative conclusion of the AgInnovator Superhero game show, Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabriel Martiniere still struggle with the professional and personal fallout from their victory. The Superhero money allowed Ruby to launch her line of agricultural biobots. But one of the RubyBot spinoffs, the Defender, leads to unsettling revelations about crop tampering using body-modified indentured workers. Their son Brandon uncovers even more disturbing information about the abuse of indentureds as he campaigns to end it. All of these disclosures lead back to the Martiniere Group, the family corporation controlled by Gabe's malevolent uncle, Philip Martiniere.   Meanwhile, Ruby and Gabe wrestle with what form their resumed relationship will take, as Ruby contemplates whether she wants to take on the role of a Martiniere wife. The revelation that Gabe's father is not who they thought, and Philip's attempt to force Ruby away from Gabe once again confirms her decision. But the need to rescue one of Brandon's valued indentured informants turns celebration into catastrophe. Will Ruby and Gabe be able to recover from this disaster—or will Philip triumph yet again in his campaign to destroy Gabe?

WHAT PRICE DO YOU PAY FOR HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER?   Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere have made it. They've defeated Philip Martiniere, and Philip's suicide leaves them an opening to reform the Martiniere Group as well as the Martiniere Family. To create their own, positive legacy.   But. The legacy of the Martinieres isn't so easily repaired. Forty-five years of dominance by Philip doesn't just go away overnight. Gabe and Ruby have a lot of work to do, especially since Philip's toxic legacy endures in unexpected places.   New foes arise—including the specters of age and health. The mysterious worm that interferes with digital and living memories, and glitches their newest biobot designs.   Then Gabe begins to wonder—is Philip truly defeated?   Can he keep his legacy safe? Or is he doomed to lose his second family, only in a slower manner than the plane crash that killed his first family?   What will it take for Gabe to guarantee that his legacy endures?

Ruby and Gabe finally have a honeymoon. It's Ruby's first big Martiniere Christmas celebration at the family's ancestral mansion in Paris, but complications happen. Can she and Gabe still have fun while dealing with their responsibilities as the Martiniere and the Matriarch?