Far from the world he knows, he’ll find a home. Among strangers, he’ll find acceptance. And in the arms of an unexpected man, he’ll find love. Young Billy Strobaw comes West to escape the stigma of his Tory family. In the Dakota Territories, he encounters the Yanube warrior Cut Hand. Billy’s attraction to the other man is as surprising as the Yanube perspective on same-sex love. Unlike Europeans, the Siouan tribe celebrates such unions. Billy and Cut Hand can live as partners and build a life together, which Billy agrees to do. As Billy struggles to acclimate to a very different culture, quickly discovering the Yanube have as much to teach him as he has to impart to them, a larger struggle is brewing. The white man is barreling through the Great Plains, trampling underfoot anyone who stands in his way. As a leader of his people, Cut Hand must decide whether it will be peace or war. In a historical romance taking place against the epic backdrop of the early American West, where a single spark can ignite a powder keg of greed, lust for power, and misunderstanding, one man must find his place in history and his role in the preservation of all he has come to value.

Cut Hand

The good reverend overindulged in the local fermented drink, made an indecent proposal to one of the Yanube matrons, and was escorted across the plains the next morning preaching incoherently to his horse. I never expected to see the man again. Someone, be he red or white, would jack-roll him for his coat or his shoes or his jaded pony before the year was out.


The next visitors were of another stripe entirely. Cut Hand was in the village, and I was alone except for Otter when the guard dog in the south put up such a clamor, I stuck my head out the door to see what was going on. Three strange warriors calmly stood just beyond where the dog seemed willing to go. One gave the sign for peace. I barked a command to the dog and held up one finger.


Chapter 35