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

Home! Teacher’s Mead was unquestionably his home. No child in this band was without family, but Otter came as close as any. His mother and father crossed the divide long before I came to live among them. Likely Otter looked upon me as his closest kin. He’d spent most of his time with me since I met him on the south side of the Yanube with Bear Paw and Lone Eagle and the others five years back in the spring of ‘32.


By nightfall things settled down, so conversation was possible. Cut sent for me to take my customary place on the blanket at his right and asked about the news I sent in my letter. He was relieved to learn of Major Wallston’s posting to Fort Ramson, and intrigued by my successful representation of Stone Knife. As did I, he considered this full payment of the debt we incurred to the Lakota.


Chapter 86