A love between two very different men is put to the test. John Strobaw, a young mixed-blood, grows up in the relative security of a family farm after the Civil War. His mother raises her family as Americans, but his foster brother, Matthew Brandt feels his red blood more keenly and leaves to ride with Crazy Horse. John doesn’t understand the longing he feels for his absent companion until he has his first sexual experience with a man and he only thinks of Matthew. After the murder of Crazy Horse, Matthew makes his way back home. John fights hard against a growing lust for Matthew, but when he ultimately succumbs, he is lost to this handsome, dusky warrior. Just when the future looks bright, another suitor appears -- a handsome Cheyenne army scout, and trouble looms on the horizon.

Echoes of the Flute

“Rode in not half an hour back. After I got through saying hello, Ma told me to go put on some decent clothes.”


Ma didn’t permit breechclouts at the Mead. She considered them uncivilized.


“Rachel Ann told me you’d walked down the river, so I came here instead of putting on pants.”


He shrugged. His shoulders had filled out, but the part about being skinny was true. He’d lost weight, but he carried it well. He was leaner but harder. He probably looked more like a man than I did. Was that because of the year he had on me or what he’d been through while he was gone?


“Might stay a while,” he answered. “But who knows when I’ll have a hankering again and move on.”


“Good. One of the coach horses that pulled in Thursday’s still limping. You can doctor him.”


Chapter 8