In public, a romantic American's billiards shot (5)
I believe the answer is:
carom
'billiards shot' is the definition.
(type of billiards shot)
'in public a romantic american's' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates a hidden word.
'CAROM' is hidden within 'public a romantic americans'.
(Other definitions for carom that I've seen before include "billiard shot" , "Cannon in billiards" , "Glancing collision" , "Billiards shot" , "rebound" .)