Encounters

Julia Verinder

- 1 -

Vin's reins hung loose as he let his gelding pick its own way through the loose stones that littered the trail down from the ridge. The surface was treacherous and the trees to either side blocked out the cold light of the waning moon. It wasn't Vin's watch but he'd offered to cover while Nathan nursed Billy through a mild fever. The boy was in no danger but Vin knew that Mary felt better for having their medic on hand. An extra watch was no hardship for him at any time but tonight he was especially glad to escape the town. His friends there were the best he'd ever had but sometimes, when his soul yearned for freedom or romance, even they got him down.

Nearly six months had passed since Vin lost Charlotte Richmond's love and he rarely thought of what might have been any more. Only now and then something, perhaps a woman's soft voice or a man's raised hand, brought it all back afresh. Part of him knew that they probably wouldn't have made it to Brazil anyway - she'd been all wrong for his nomadic life - and yet another part of him could not forget the softness of her skin and the warmth of her breath on his own. He started, surprised by the sound of his sigh, and then shifted in his saddle to ease the discomfort brought on by the intensity of the memory.

Poised to plunge back into his melancholy, his mood was punctured by a deep growl. His horse shied, recognizing the voice of a bear at the same instant as its rider. Vin put the sound at least fifty yards ahead and lazily looped the slack lines to the right, intending to give the creature a wide berth. As the horse willingly turned away, another sound brought Vin up sharp - the agitated snort of another horse. Probably some damned fool settler had ridden straight into a bear in the dark. Vin always regretted having to kill an animal purely to avert a tragedy that could have been avoided in the first place but he couldn't leave the rider to the bear. It took a heavy hand and two powerful kicks to drive his horse towards the danger.

After thirty yards, he swung silently down and wrapped his reins firmly around a branch a little way off the trail. Nobody watching would have seen or heard his approach, as he glided through the shadows towards the sounds he'd heard. Ahead of him was a creek, where he'd been planning to stop for water. Perhaps the bear had stumbled onto someone's campsite. Vin stole cautiously up behind a large thorn bush, and then smiled at the view that opened up before him.

The water of the creek flowed slowly there, only the rippled reflection of the moon revealing its soundless passage downstream. A small fire burned on a sandy beach, with a pony tethered nearby. It was fidgeting nervously, eyes wide as it watched a large black bear batting at something with a huge forepaw in the darkness beyond the ring of firelight. Vin couldn't see what the object was but failure to open it was making the bear mighty mad. It growled deeper and deeper, stopping only to try its teeth on its prize. When it rose up on its hind legs, a silver flash of reflected moonlight revealed its prey as a tin can, label freshly torn off but contents still securely locked inside.

Eight foot of angry male bear was a magnificent sight but Vin's gaze was drawn by something equally impressive in the water. His smile broadened as he recognized the identity of the camp's owner. Chanu.

Caught literally with his pants down, he should have looked foolish but that was far from the case. He had obviously been bathing when the bear arrived and he'd waded into shallower water to recover his weapon from a flat rock about six feet from the shore. Now he stood, the water to his knees, eyes fixed on the bear, bow drawn and arrow trained directly on the animal's eye. The muscles of his upper body were pulled into sharp relief by the tension of the bowstring, the moon painting deep shadows below each contour. The tip of the arrow followed the bear's movements precisely.

Vin no longer had any illusions that his help was needed but he was in no hurry to move on. He studied the young Indian's slim outline and its firm, spare musculature. He let his gaze fall to the slender thighs, their smoothness showing no sign of the power that he knew lay under the surface. The man was poised to take action and yet he was as relaxed as if nothing was happening.

Vin let his admiring eyes roam upwards again and linger on the man's groin. The cock lying neatly over a full scrotum was soft but swollen, making him suspect that the bear had interrupted more than a bath. He felt his own body swell in response to the sight. His mind jumped forward in time, wondering how things would play. He expected the bear would move on of its own accord and knew it would be dispatched if it did not. What then? Should he reveal his presence? How would Chanu react?

Although he had no wish to embarrass his friend, Vin knew the tribes were more flexible in their outlook on some things than most white folks. He'd shared more than rations several times in what now seemed like another life, and he found himself eager to do so again now, but those had been men with whom he'd lived and ridden for months - he had never propositioned a casual friend.

Vin was also wary of the gratitude Chanu had shown him since he cleared the man of the murder of his wife, unwilling to exploit a sense of obligation. Even as he thought of Claire Moseley, Vin reflected sadly that Chanu was clearly interested in women. His cock wilted in disappointment, only to rear up again when his mind countered with the fact that he was interested in women himself but that didn't mean he didn't like a change. As a matter of fact, he'd always enjoyed the one as much as the other.

A pop, followed by a sharp hiss, grabbed Vin's attention and his eyes leapt back to the bear. It was standing, bemused, licking its chops suspiciously. A few seconds passed and then it let out a ferocious roar and flung the can across the campsite, narrowly missing the pony. It dropped onto all fours and crashed off through the trees, still bellowing its distaste at its snack. Satisfied that the beast's course would miss his horse, Vin let his eyes drift back to the figure they were only too keen to watch, just in time to see the man lower the bow and set it down on the rock. After only a second or two's hesitation, Vin made his decision and stepped out from behind the thorn bush. He doubted Chanu would be bothered by his nakedness and he'd play it by ear from there.

The Indian's hand shot out for the bow when he saw the movement but stopped as soon as Vin's easily recognizable silhouette came into view.

'Vin.' The single word was a friendly greeting. The speaker made no move, hands by his side and body still on show.

'Chanu.' Vin walked to the water's edge. 'Seems like you got a lot o' company tonight.'

White teeth showed in a smile. 'Some more welcome than other.'

Vin knew when he was being led on. 'Looks good in there.'

Chanu nodded. His eyes roamed over Vin, holding his gaze for a moment and then deliberately studying his chest, then stomach and then fixing unashamedly on his groin.

Vin tossed his hat onto a jagged tree stump and ran his fingers through his flattened hair. 'What was in the can?'

'Li-ni-ment for burn.' Chanu spoke the unfamiliar word carefully.

Vin threw his jacket over his hat and began to unbutton his shirt. 'Lucky.'

'Not for bear.'

Vin smiled and shrugged off his shirt. He liked Chanu and it was good to see him recovered from his loss. On his occasional rides through the reservation, Vin had seen him a few times and knew it had taken months for the sorrow to subside enough for him to get on with life. Now, he watched Chanu's eyes widen as he pulled off his undershirt. They shared the same build, lean muscle over a light frame, and Vin stood in the moonlight for a moment, not out of vanity at the picture he made but out of generosity, giving Chanu the same pleasure that he'd been enjoying so much. He unhooked his gunbelt and reached to toss it onto the rock beside the bow.

Pausing for a moment, a small movement caught his eye. Chanu's balls were in shadow now but the moonlight caught his slender shaft as it rose to stand half-erect. Vin felt his mouth water, just like it used to when he was a kid looking at a jug of cool lemonade on a hot day. He swallowed and licked his lips in anticipation.

Balancing easily on first one leg and then the other, he pulled off his boots and threw them by the fire, sending rolled-up socks tumbling after them. He unbuttoned his pants and slid them slowly downwards, taking his drawers with them. His liberated cock bobbed up and swatted his stomach.

He waded into the creek a few yards along from Chanu and dropped to his knees, savoring its cool caress. Feeling his friend's eyes following his every move, he rubbed his hands over his body, working the water into his armpits and around his groin, delighting in his own touch and in the pleasure he knew it gave Chanu.

Plunging his head under the surface, he waited until his hair was drenched and then shook it wildly before raking his fingertips across his scalp. He knew just how he looked - soaked and aroused as he was - and he knew just how that made Chanu feel. He knew because he saw the same and he knew how it made him feel.

He rose to his feet in a cascade of water, torrents of it flowing from him and then fading to trickles across his drying skin. They faced each other, six feet apart, each with a hand on his now-hard cock. Vin knew the choice was with him. Chanu wasn't sure how far he wanted to take things. There'd been plenty of times Vin had been happy to share no more than company in his relief but this wasn't one of them. He wanted to hold the man in front of him and he no longer had any doubt that the feeling was mutual. When he stepped forward, Chanu met him halfway.

Still they did not touch, the gap between them only inches now, eyes locked, letting their desire build. Vin slowly reached out his right hand and ran a finger teasingly from Chanu's throat, down his breastbone, over his navel and then, lingeringly, across his stomach. Chanu's cock kicked in response. He caught Vin's hand and kissed the knuckles tenderly before taking the finger into his mouth. Vin slipped his left hand behind Chanu and stroked the silky skin of his butt. It took only the slightest pressure to pull the man closer. The tips of their cocks touched tantalizingly in a fleeting kiss.

Chanu twisted Vin's hair around his fingers, pulling the wet length out straight and squeezing the water from it, Vin mirrored the movement, turned on by the other man's arousal and wanting to share every sensation he experienced. He longed to kiss Chanu but now it was he who hesitated, knowing that was sometimes out of bounds. He remembered another time when they had stood inches apart, their heavy breathing then from fighting not from excitement, confusion and frustration on his side, misery and desperation on Chanu's. Now all that was gone and there was only friendship, turning to passion, between them. He leaned closer, no more than half an inch… just enough to make their cocks kiss again… just enough to invite Chanu's lips.

Those lips parted in a smile, then touched his own. Vin closed his eyes and let himself be drawn into the contact. There'd been no one since Charlotte, not even a saloon girl in one of the towns they passed through from time to time, and his heart cried out for human contact.

Chanu's hand cupped the back of his head in a loving caress. 'Too long alone?'

Vin nodded and pressed himself closer to accept the man's embrace. He'd been with white men on occasion but never found the open warmth that men like Chanu offered. He let Chanu take over and guide him to the shore. They sank down by the fire, not needing its heat in the summer air but glad of its cheer. Vin watched the orange light flicker over his companion's golden skin.

'How you want me?'

Vin cradled Chanu's cheek in his hand, knowing the man expected to be taken, suddenly knowing that he wanted to confound the expectation. He pushed Chanu gently backwards, meeting with no resistance as the Indian drew up his knees to expose his ass. A pan lay beside the fire, the remnants of Chanu's supper floating in a pool of grease. Vin dipped a finger into the tepid fat and then swirled it over Chanu's rigid flesh. Brown eyes smiled at him, surprise and pleasure in their depths. Vin straddled the slender hips and guided the slick head to the sensitive pucker that awaited it.

'You are ready?'

Vin smoothed the frown from Chanu's brow with a greasy fingertip. Yes, he was ready. He pressed against the blunt staff, relishing the building pressure, waiting for his muscle to open. He gasped when it did, feeling a thrill of pain and then the joy of their joined bodies.

'Aaah,' he sighed softly as they locked together, his ring tight behind Chanu's glans.

'Good.'

Vin wasn't sure if the word was a question or statement but nodded in affirmation or agreement.

He slid slowly down Chanu's generous length until his balls rested on the flat, hairless stomach. Chanu's first two fingers closed lightly on his cock and rolled the foreskin teasingly over the edge of the head. The thumb floated feather-light over his slit, spreading its tears over the sensitive skin that picked up every current in the night air as the fluid evaporated. Vin rose up the column of Chanu's flesh, feeling his own stretch and then give as it molded itself to the shape. As he moved down and then up again, Chanu's hand stayed with him to give the same slow, sensual stimulation.

Vin knew compelling lust as well as any man but that wasn't what he felt tonight. Ever since the first moment he saw Chanu's body in the moonlight, he'd wanted to be united, to share, to rise to the peak of passion locked as one. In Chanu's eyes he saw the same desire, to link their spirits as well as their bodies.

He leaned forward to kiss his lover again, touching the tip of his tongue to Chanu's, tasting rabbit supper and a hint of something sweet. The kiss completed their union, lip to lip, hand to cock, cock to ass. His body tensed with Chanu's and then his seed cascaded over the smooth brown knuckles, just as Chanu's flowed into him.

Vin broke the kiss first, but only to shift into a closer embrace, chest to chest, cheek to cheek, wrapped in a cloak of tangled chestnut and raven tresses. He was complete, made whole by a fleeting glimpse of paradise. He was free - the earth his bed and the sky his roof… the life he knew… the life he loved.

- 2 -

Vin's eyelids opened, while the rest of his body remained as still as death. Years on the run had left his subconscious sensitive to the slightest sound. Now he had no idea what had awakened him but he knew it was something out of the ordinary, not simply one of the townsmen weaving his way home from the saloon. His fingers curled around the mare's leg lying on the cot beside him.

The sound came again, a faint touch of something flexible on the canvas beside his shoulder. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he listened. No longer breathing himself, he could hear that someone else was. He raised the weapon but did nothing except to listen more intently. The breaths were even and yet just a shade fast to be a man at rest.

Vin could think of only three reasons that someone might normally stop in the shadows between his wagon and the feedstore. He'd be able to hear if a couple was necking or a man was relieving himself, although he doubted many men would choose that particular spot. Likewise, he'd be able to smell if a man was lighting up but all he detected was a faint musky scent he couldn't place. He drew a silent breath while he considered the situation. A spasm ran through his shoulder, reminding him that he could not hold his unnaturally tense pose for long.

'I'd think real careful afore you make a move,' he said in a low voice.

After only a moment's pause, the amused reply came back just as softly. 'I did not come here to think.'

Vin dropped the gun onto the blanket and sat up. 'You'll get yourself shot creepin' around like that, Chanu.'

The canvas bulged inwards as a man's form leaned lightly against it.

'I was not creeping. I was… I was not sure…'

Vin smiled in the darkness. Over the previous couple of weeks, he'd thought about going out to the reservation several times but he hadn't been sure either.

'C'mon in.'

When the flaps at the end of the wagon parted, a shaft of moonlight fell across the cot. Vin blinked against the cold light and tried to make out the young Indian's features. All he could see was a silhouette, with the poker-straight hair lifting in a gentle breeze. The black outline hopped lightly over the tailgate and knelt on the end of the cot. The canvas dropped back into place, plunging them into darkness.

Vin's hand reached slowly but confidently towards his visitor, rough knuckles brushing smooth cheek tenderly. It was new ground for him and he wondered idly whether Chanu had done this before, seeking out a particular man as he might seek out a woman rather than simply satisfying a physical urge together.

'Has it… been this way for you before?'

Chanu's question answered Vin's unspoken curiosity. He leaned forward and touched lips in a lingering kiss. 'Nope.' Another kiss. 'I done it with the same fella more'an once afore but I ain't never spent my nights dreamin' on him. You?'

'No. It has always been as…'

'Friends?'

Chanu nodded against Vin's shoulder.

'This a problem for you?'

'Only if you do not feel the same.'

Vin drew the man closer in a tight embrace. Yes, he felt the same. The blood pooling in his groin told half the story but it was the butterflies in his stomach that confirmed that this was different from past encounters. When he'd been with men before, he'd always been easy whether they used their hands, mouths or asses. It made no difference to him whether he took or was taken, provided that it brought the relief he sought. Now it wasn't that he didn't care but rather that he couldn't decide what he wanted most, what he wanted first.

Chanu's nose rubbed against his, traced his cheekbone and then followed his sideburn down to the strong curve of his jaw. A vivid image of the soaked majesty of Chanu's form in the river played through Vin's mind, the memory filling the void in front of his eyes. In the vision, a slender cock stood upright in the moonlight.

Suddenly Vin knew exactly what he wanted: that narrow column of excited flesh in his mouth. Lips locked in another kiss, he reached down and felt for the cord at Chanu's waist. When he pulled the free end, the knot unraveled easily and he parted the overlapped fabric with a sharp hiss of anticipation. His fingertips ran delicately over the liberated pole, while he delighted in its gentle kicks into his touch.

Feeling Chanu lean backwards and settle onto his elbows, Vin knelt comfortably and then bent over his task. His tongue ran around the smooth skin stretched over the head of Chanu's cock. It was clean, probably cleaner than his own as he didn't doubt Chanu had prepared himself before calling on his lover, but there was an unfamiliar tang. Something in the young Indian's diet or clothing carried that distinctive musky scent. Whatever it was, Vin knew it would always be linked to Chanu in his mind. He liked having something special, something new, which was just Chanu.

As his tongue traced the raised veins around the shaft, Chanu's fingers played through his tangled hair. When they tensed as if to stop him, he ran a hand reassuringly over the thigh beside his face. He wanted to take Chanu to ecstasy and taste his joy. There would be time enough later for his own satisfaction.

'I… what about…?' Chanu's protests faded as his need grew.

Vin opened his throat and took Chanu deeper and deeper, until his lips brushed the few sparse hairs at the base of the hard length. Chanu's fingers massaged his scalp as the man abandoned himself to pleasure. His body shuddered with suppressed excitement but not a sound came from his lips.

Without warning, a warm jet hit the roof of Vin's mouth. Another followed and then another. He swallowed eagerly, welcoming the life-bearing liquid into his body. He had never done that before, although one man had done it for him, but he felt only a deep sense of wellbeing at the new experience.

Chanu pulled him upright and kissed him hungrily. The prying tongue found the taste it sought on his hard palate and raked over the ridges in its lust for sensation. When they broke for breath, Chanu panted softly. 'Thank you. Thank you.'

Vin pressed himself closer, needing no thanks for doing what he wanted but happy to hear it anyway. His own flesh was still straining against his drawers and he was just wondering what to do about that when he heard footsteps in the street. The lovers froze, still clasping each other, waiting… listening.

Vin placed the confident stride in no time. Buck. A second later, it stopped alongside them, only inches away.

'You awake, Vin?'

The words were softly spoken, barely audible. Buck clearly didn't intend to wake him if he was asleep. Vin said nothing and forced himself into the slow steady breaths of sleep. In his arms, Chanu didn't move a muscle. After the briefest pause, Buck began to move on.

Just as Vin relaxed, he heard his friend pause again, sniff, hesitate for a moment, and then walk away decisively. Chanu collapsed against him.

'S'okay,' Vin whispered almost soundlessly in his ear. A faint tremor ran through Chanu's light frame. Vin tried to reassure him. 'No need to worry 'bout ol' Bucklin.'

'Your people…' Chanu hesitated but then found the courage to go on. 'Moseley… he told my people that this is wicked… that they would be damned.'

Vin felt an unwelcome wave of anger that threatened to shatter their perfect night. People like Moseley had no right to lay down the law how they did. Chanu was right that they'd likely both get themselves lynched for what they were doing, even if he wasn't an Indian which wouldn't help, but Vin doubted his friends would concern themselves with something so personal.

'Yeah, well, we all saw where his high an' almighty ideas got him, didn't we?' He bit back the anger and lowered his mutter back to a whisper. 'Shhh. This ain't no one's business but ours and it don't feel wrong t'me.'

He stroked his lover's hair soothingly and then began to nuzzle his neck. Slowly he felt the tension drain away and the man begin to respond to his touch again. He ran his hands under Chanu's tunic and teased the nipples to attention. With his lips touching Chanu's ear, he barely spoke his question.

'C'n I be in ya?'

Chanu drew him into a long kiss, invading his mouth and then opening his own in welcome. Only when they had explored each other's mouths fully did Chanu turn around, lower his pants and settle on all fours. Vin hesitated, feeling awkward about taking his lover while the man's cock was still soft and wondering whether he could come again so soon. Chanu rocked backwards in silent invitation.

Vin reached for a shallow tin of grease on a shelf and dipped a finger into it. He touched a slippery fingertip to the pucker and traced tiny circles on the sensitive flesh. Chanu folded his arms and rested his head contentedly on them. He was relaxing, not getting excited, and Vin felt a moment of doubt at his ability to arouse his lover. He faltered and sat back in uncertainty.

'Do not stop.'

The disappointment and yearning in the murmured protest reassured Vin. He'd never made love to a man who didn't expect to climax but then he'd never exactly made love to a man before. Chanu wanted him to be inside, wanted him to come, and it had nothing to do with his own need for sex. Vin flushed warm with the joy of knowing that this man wanted only for him to feel good.

He slipped his finger into Chanu's body and ran it around the inside of the ring of muscle. He delved in as deep as he could and pressed lightly downwards, knowing what he was looking for but not sure his fingers would be long enough to reach. It was a close thing but the very tip of his finger brushed the nub he sought. Chanu exhaled in a deep but almost silent sigh.

Vin probed again, his cock swelling with the pleasure he was giving. Not until his desire became irresistible did he move into position and press its head against the pucker. Although it was much the same as Chanu's in length, it was half as thick again. That was why the slenderness of his lover's pole fascinated Vin, because it was so different from his own, but now he worried that the pleasurable stretching he'd experienced when he lowered himself onto Chanu would be more like pain when he pushed himself home.

'Do it, Vin.'

The urging combined with his desire to overcome his concern and Vin applied steady pressure until Chanu's ring opened to take him. The soft gasp of pure pleasure that came from his lover swept away any lingering doubts and he pushed all the way inside. He paused to reach down, found Chanu still only half-hard and knew that he could wait no longer. He began to make short rhythmic thrusts, feeling the tight muscle follow every ridge of his engorged flesh. Its hold was far more intense than the gentle embrace of a woman and he knew he would last no time at all. Best of all, he knew it didn't matter.

His mouth was open in a broad grin that he couldn't suppress and he was glad that the darkness hid it. Even if it hadn't, he wouldn't have cared. He couldn't recall ever feeling so uninhibited, not worried what he looked like and not doubting how his lover felt about him. His thrusts grew slower and rougher but Chanu was open wide and felt no pain.

'Oh,' Vin almost whimpered, 'Shit.'

He rammed into Chanu just as the rapture peaked. In his mind's eye, he saw his seed shoot deep inside and begin its journey to the very center of his lover's body.

They collapsed onto the cot, Chanu crushed underneath Vin and still impaled on his cock.

'Want me to move?' Vin asked after a few seconds.

'Not yet.'

No, not yet, Vin thought happily. In a minute. Or two.

- 3 -

In the distance, a wolf howled forlornly. When no other lupine voices joined it, Vin guessed it was likely a male without a pack. It might be an aging animal, waiting for death, but might just as easily be a juvenile, seeking a home range or a mate. He could understand that, lying there on his back, too hard to sleep and trying to ignore the fact that his own mate was probably only a couple of miles away. He wouldn't have minded doing a little howling himself.

On the far side of the dying fire, his traveling companion rolled over, deep snoring broken only long enough for a belch. JD was one of the noisiest sleepers Vin had ever known. The kid was pretty decent when he was awake but at night his body tossed and turned, grunted and groaned, snored and mumbled, belched and farted, seemingly without respite. That didn't bother Vin in the least as far as delicacy was concerned, but he did find it hard to sleep through the cacophony. Not that he could blame JD for his insomnia now.

Vin pushed his blanket to one side and rose silently to his feet. He wasn't in the habit of wandering off in the middle of the night but he needed to do something about his cock's demands. Some fifty paces through the trees that lined the course of the creek by which they'd made camp, he stood undecided, knowing he could pass off masturbation as urination if JD woke but knowing too that it wasn't what he wanted.

Mind made up, he went halfway back to their campsite and untied his horse from the grazing line they'd fixed up. There was no way he could saddle the animal in silence so he simply led it away by its rope halter, waiting until he was sure he was out of earshot before springing nimbly onto its bare back. Years had passed since he'd ridden that way but a man who lived with Kiowa and Commanche soon learned how to ride without a saddle.

Ten minutes later, he scanned Chanu's village for signs of life from one of the low hills overlooking it. No one was moving and the fires were no more than glowing embers. Chanu's tipi stood with three others at the far side of the settlement. Vin knew which it was from visits long before their recent involvement but now he wondered what he thought he was doing. Like all his people, Chanu shared his living quarters. Vin couldn't breeze in there while two brothers and probably some friends lay at his lover's side.

Deciding he'd worry about that when he got there, he tied his horse to a sapling and made his way cautiously down the hillside. He wasn't particularly afraid of the villagers, even though there was no way he'd shoot any of them to protect himself under the circumstances, but he wasn't keen to explain why he was sneaking between their homes in the dead of night. He didn't believe what he was doing was wicked but he supposed he wasn't entirely comfortable with it or he'd have called at a civilized hour.

When he reached the tipi, Vin waited in its shadow, confident that he could not be seen or heard. From inside came the deep breathing of perhaps four or five men. The fact that none snored like JD gave Vin a moment's amusement but he was soon back to debating how he could rouse Chanu without disturbing anyone else. In the darkness inside the shelter, he doubted he'd even be able to see which sleeping form belonged to his lover. At that moment, he heard a soft footfall some way behind him.

Vin turned slowly, not aiming to reveal his position if he was out of sight in the shadows. Recognizing the figure strolling casually towards him, he smiled and took half a step forward, so that the moon lit his face.

Chanu stopped, startled for a moment, and then beckoned Vin to join him. He was naked but for a loincloth and Vin licked his lips in anticipation of the treat that awaited him.

They walked together in silence, back in the direction Chanu had come from. As they neared the treeline, Chanu steered them to the left. Vin guessed that his friend had been relieving himself and that the area set aside for such things was to the right. When they were a safe distance from the village, he spoke in a low voice.

'Seems like neither of us was sleepin' so good.'

'I was…'

Chanu paused but Vin doubted it was because he was bashful about his bodily functions. More likely, he didn't know how to refer to them in English.

'Takin' a piss?' he offered.

Chanu hesitated, then said shyly, 'That too.'

Vin broke into a surprised grin at the thought that Chanu must have been dealing with his frustration just as he had been pondering on his own. 'You bin beatin' the meat? Wish I'da seen that.'

'Another time perhaps.'

Vin planned on holding Chanu to that but felt cheated now that Chanu had already met his needs. He didn't want to come alone this time. Chanu must have been reading his mind because he laughed softly.

'Do not worry. I am ready for you.'

He stopped in the deep shadows below a big old cottonwood and reached for Vin's hand. When he slipped it beneath the loincloth, there was no doubt of the truth of his words but, before Vin could do anything, Chanu brushed his hand away again and began to undress him. The agile brown fingers were surprisingly assured but then he'd been married to a white woman: if he could manage the layers of tightly fitted clothes she wore, there was no reason to expect him to struggle with a few buttons and buckles.

Vin had never been stripped before. When he'd been with men, they'd undressed themselves. He hadn't given it much thought but he supposed he liked his women a little on the demure side. Some of Buck's conquests doubtless ripped his clothes off with abandon but Vin had usually taken the lead in his more romantic encounters. Now he knew he'd stumbled on Chanu in masterful mood and he felt uncertain about that. He liked the strength and confidence he saw in Chanu but wasn't so sure he liked the role in which it cast him. When Chanu reached for the string on his drawers, Vin caught his wrist.

Chanu did not resist. He waited, meeting Vin's eye curiously. Vin did nothing but did not release his grip.

'I want you.' Chanu put his cards on the table with typical frankness.

'I c'n undress myself.'

Chanu nodded. 'But it gives me pleasure to do it.' He moved his captive hand back under the loincloth and brushed the back of Vin's hand against himself, letting him feel just how much pleasure it gave him.

'Why?' Vin asked uneasily.

Chanu shrugged. 'Why do you want to see me… beat the meat?' The careful way in which he repeated the phrase brought a smile to Vin's lips, relaxing him a shade.

'That all there is to it?'

'What else could there be?'

Now Vin shrugged. 'Don't know. It's jus'… well… I ain't a woman.'

Chanu's forehead creased into a frown. 'I never thought that. Why should undressing you mean anything?'

'I… I don't know.' Vin had no idea why it made him uneasy.

'I will not do it again.'

'No… I…' Vin didn't want to set boundaries like that. If Chanu wanted something, almost anything, he would do it. 'If ya like it, I guess it's okay.' He released the wrist.

Instead of taking it slower, Chanu was more assertive as he yanked off the drawers. His hungry hands were nothing like a man would normally use on a woman and their ferocity sent a thrill through Vin. He shoved Vin against the tree trunk and dropped to his knees in the long grass. With two deft swipes, he spread Vin's legs and then parted his cheeks with firm fingers. His tongue thrust straight inside, with no warning or preparation. Vin had never felt anything like it. The urgency, the greed, in Chanu's touch triggered a primitive longing in the depths of his body. He reached to touch himself but Chanu slapped his hand away so he rubbed the tip of his cock on the cottonwood's bark, feeling more pain than satisfaction but desperate for some contact. Behind him, Chanu got to his feet and then slipped his cock into the channel between Vin's buttocks. It floated easily on the trail of saliva that coated the skin, then nudged against the entrance to Vin's body. Vin braced himself for the aggressive penetration Chanu had been building up to and grimaced when the man thrust into him. It hurt, but not that much and somehow in a good way.

'I know you are not a woman, Vin. This is not how I make love to a woman. I do not think it is how you make love to a woman either.'

Vin shook his head. It certainly wasn't.

'But I love you. Sometimes that makes me tender but it does not make you less of a man. Do you not feel tender towards me?'

Vin nodded. When they'd made love in his wagon, he'd held Chanu tenderly. He had never for a moment thought of him as anything other than a man.

'I want you to do something for me now that I would not ask a woman.'

Vin nodded again. Whatever it was, he would do it if he could.

'Take a piss for me, Vin. While I am inside your body, piss for me.'

The request caught Vin off guard. He had actually asked a woman to piss for him, only once and she was a working girl, but he had asked. He would never ask a man to do it, and would expect to get a fist in the face if he did, but Chanu clearly felt differently. He considered the request, though Chanu's tone made it more of a demand, and realized that his bladder was full. He wasn't sure he could go under these circumstances but he had the means to do it.

More than anything, he wanted to please Chanu. Slowly, he turned at an angle to the tree, still supporting his weight on his left hand but planning his flow to miss the trunk rather than spatter all over him. He exhaled heavily and tried to relax. Chanu ran a reassuring palm down his right side, then kneaded his thigh appreciatively. He moved slowly from side to side, playing his buried cock over Vin's prostate, stimulating his bladder. All Vin had to do was stifle his conditioned aversion to urinating in front of someone else. Half a minute dragged by and he felt his skin burn with the humiliation of failing in so simple a task.

Chanu nibbled his ear. 'There is time.'

Of course Chanu was in no rush. He'd already come once that night and now he was happy to take his time over his pleasure. Vin had been ready to come at the slightest touch but the request had slowed him up. He was still hard but the angle of his erection had halved. He breathed out again and then sighed as Chanu raised himself on tiptoe, increasing the downward pressure on his gland. A couple of drops spilled from his cock.

Chanu's teeth found his lobe again. 'That is the best for me.'

Vin knew some men liked that sort of thing but he'd only tried it the once himself, just out of curiosity. It had been interesting to see how a woman peed but he was unmoved sexually by the sight. He never repeated the experiment but the swollen flesh stretching his body told him that it was a completely different matter for Chanu. It was the thought of giving such intense pleasure to the man whom, he was only just beginning to admit to himself, he loved that overcame his inhibitions.

A few more drops dribbled out, turning to short spurts and then settling into a powerful jet. It was a relief - he'd been too full to have penetrative sex comfortably anyway - and he could see a strange kind of beauty in the human fountain they made. His erection swelled, lifting until his urine formed a proud arc through the air. Chanu began to thrust into him, sending the arc rising and falling in ever-changing patterns. The jet slowed and then faded to a trickle again, as Chanu forced the last of the liquid from him. A hand reached around and grasped his spent hose in a firm and yet loving embrace. Chanu showed his experience as he pumped Vin's body between his cock and hand, delivering intense and enveloping stimulation the like of which Vin had never known. Neither of them made a sound as their bodies synchronized for release.

Vin knew when Chanu's final thrust began and sensed his own impending climax. Just as Chanu's pelvis pressed against his butt, the floodgates opened inside him. Three jets shot out of him in close succession, falling to the grass a few feet away. He leaned on the tree and Chanu leaned on him, both drained. It was most of a minute before Chanu's cock slithered out of his body and they fell to the ground in an embrace.

'Will you stay tonight?' Chanu asked quietly.

'No.' Vin kissed him. 'Wish I could but I'm camped with JD not two miles off and I ain't keen t'be explainin' where I been.'

'You told me not to worry about your other friend. Is it different with this one?'

'Ain't so sure,' Vin admitted. 'Reckon they can all mind their business but you're right that this don't go down so well with some o' my people. That a problem?'

Chanu considered the question carefully before answering. 'No. I know how you feel about my people. This is different.'

Vin nodded. He wasn't ashamed of seeing an Indian and he was glad Chanu understood that. But he wasn't keen to end up on the end of a rope, for this any more than for murder. And he didn't like people knowing his business anyhow, plain and simple.

When Vin rode back an hour later, all was quiet at the campsite. Only when he tethered his horse did he brush against JD's mount and feel the warmth of its flanks. It had been ridden that night, although its quiet breathing now said it had been back a while. When he sank down beside the dead fire, JD was snoring peacefully. It sounded genuine, even to Vin's experienced ear, and yet the horse had been ridden and JD would surely have been concerned to find himself alone. Vin pondered what the boy might have seen and what trouble it might cause. And yet, if he intended to create a scene, why would he return to their camp and act as if nothing had happened? Vin sighed. He would find out soon enough and worry about the consequences then.

- 4 -

As Chris's silhouette receded into the distance, a black-swathed figure on a black horse, Vin breathed a sigh of relief. He'd begun to wonder if the man would ever leave. It had been no simple matter to find a pretext for staying at the shack without his friend but finally he'd managed it. They'd spent the day building a new corral and now Chris was returning to town, while Vin stayed another night before setting off on an errand to the west for Mary.

Not one for home comforts, Vin was usually just as happy to sleep on the ground as a cot. Only now, after a series of brief encounters with his lover, had he discovered the appeal of a peaceful spot where they could spent a night entwined in comfort, without fear of someone stumbling onto them. Chris's spread, in its remote mountain setting, was the obvious choice but borrowing it casually had proved more difficult than expected. More than once, Vin contemplated coming right out and asking if he could bring someone there but each time he faltered. He knew Chris wouldn't press him on the identity of his companion. He might guess that it was an Indian and assume that was why Vin wanted to keep the relationship out of sight. Still, Vin also knew that even such limited knowledge could increase the risk of exposure, putting both himself and his lover in danger.

Now those problems were behind him. Chris and Mary's individual requests for help had given him a reason to plan his activities further in advance than normal and he stole out to the reservation one night to see if Chanu could fit in with their plans. He couldn't remember a time when he'd hoped so desperately for something - his delight when he saw Chanu as excited by the prospect as he was himself came close to the anticipation he'd felt as a child when Christmas approached. Drawing a bucket of water from the well, he shivered as the thrill ran through him again. The sun was inching towards the western horizon and Chanu was due at sundown.

Standing naked in front of the small shack, Vin rubbed furiously to work up a lather from the jar of rough home-made soap he'd borrowed from Chris's cupboard. Just for a second, he wished he had some of Ezra's fancy toiletries but immediately knew that he wouldn't feel comfortable being scented and Chanu probably wouldn't be keen on it either. Clean was good enough for both of them.

When he was done, he pulled his pants back on without his drawers, buckled his gunbelt and left it at that. Since he'd been seeing Chanu, he'd spent more time half-dressed than he had for years. When he lived with Indians, he was as relaxed as they were about the sight of a man's body and his current reserve had nothing to do with modesty. It began when he was bounty-hunting, a profession that made a man cultivate a certain image and be sure never to appear vulnerable in any way. He hadn't consciously thought about it but he'd become even more cautious since the price was put on his head, always poised to react to changing circumstances. If he and Chanu were found together, they might need to react fast to avoid death but somehow that didn't seem to matter anymore. After years alone, Vin's need for companionship outweighed his need to stay alive.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching hoof-beats. He rested his hand on his mare's leg but the gesture was purely instinctive. A horse arriving alone just as the sun kissed the land meant one thing and the twin stirrings in his heart and loins left Vin in no doubt as to how he felt about that.

When Chanu rode into view, tanned face cast in bronze by the sun's dying rays, Vin's heart turned a somersault. In recent years, most of his dealings with Indians had been tainted by sorrow at the lot that his people had forced onto theirs. So much of their majesty had been lost in their oppression and relocation, leaving a tragic dignity that tore at Vin's heart. In Chanu, he saw a man like those he'd known in the past, proud of his race and uncowed by a destiny he could not change.

That first night, Vin thought he'd had sex because he was sad and lonely - Chanu just happened to be there and willing. Now he knew better. He admired his lover as a man, lusted after him as a body and came alive with him as a fellow spirit. Not since his youth had he felt both life and freedom so powerfully. Carrying the bounty, he'd succeeded in evading death but only now, with Chanu, had he rediscovered the joy of living.

Vin took the horse's head while Chanu dismounted, then waited while he untacked the animal and turned it out into the corral with the other gelding. The beasts touched noses before settling companionably next to one another. Chanu set his saddle and bridle down on the front porch of the cabin, then turned back and stood looking at Vin. Seconds passed as they drank in the sight of each other. Chanu's hair was silky smooth, brushed until it shone, and held in place by a braided leather headband that Vin had not seen him wear before. Around his neck hung a single string of colored beads. Realizing Chanu had dressed up for their first full night together, Vin's lust for his beauty was swamped by his love for his heart. Stepping closer, he stroked a lock of hair fondly.

'You look real special. Too good f'me, that's for sure.'

Chanu's fingertips on his chest were just as tender.

'It means much to me that you wanted this.'

One night. It shouldn't be a big deal but, with things as they were, it was. Yes, Vin wanted it - more than he'd wanted anything in too long. He hadn't analyzed it but knew now that Chanu saw it as a sign of love and that, in a way, it was. He didn't think Chanu had ever doubted the sincerity of his affection but perhaps confirmation was still welcome. If Vin wanted mere physical relief, he could get that in minutes anywhere. His wish to spend time together, and the effort he'd put into making it happen, told another story. He gestured towards the porch.

'Sit down. I got some leftovers from dinner that'll do us for supper.'

The description didn't do his plans justice. Not wanting to spend his time with Chanu in cooking, he had taken supper into account when he rustled up dinner for himself and Chris but the generous slices of prime wild turkey breast he'd held back were more than leftovers. There was half a loaf of Mrs Potter's excellent bread and a bottle of beer apiece. He made two trips with the food and then settled down next to Chanu.

They ate in silence, watching the sun bathe the clouds in myriad pinks and mauves as it faded from view. Vin could not remember the last time he'd felt such peace, if indeed he ever had. Carefree youth, with its yearning for adventure and excitement, had given way to cautious maturity, his main concern to keep his neck out of a noose. Only his fleeting romance with Charlotte Richmond came close to this, but that had been tainted by his doubts about what they were doing and the pressures that their respective plights placed on their involvement.

In contrast, his relationship with Chanu felt right at every level. Totally comfortable in meeting his needs with an Indian and with a man, Vin did not question those aspects of his new romance. But, far more than that, they were equals in their understanding of the land and their ability to survive. Vin did not know what the future held but rested secure in the knowledge that anything he could do alone he also could do with Chanu.

Chanu drained the last of his beer from the bottle and then asked, 'What did you tell your friend?'

'Just asked if it was okay to stay on tonight afore ridin' west tomorrow.'

'What would he think of… this?'

'Don't know,' Vin admitted.

'Because I am a savage or because I am a man?'

Vin considered the question for a while. 'He's got no problem with your people.' He was confident on that score. 'Truth is, I doubt he'd have a problem with you bein' a man neither. Chris don't concern himself with other folks' affairs. It's more that he's kinda private. I wasn't sure he'd want me to stay on here an' I'm even less sure he'd want me entertainin', even if you was a woman. It's his place, see.' He grinned. 'What the hell? He can only blow my head off once.'

Chanu smiled back, then asked, 'You are riding alone tomorrow?'

'Yup.' It was a second before Vin realized the reason for the question. 'Leastwise, I was. Just a couple o' days, out to Clarkstown. You free?'

'I said I might be gone a few days. I thought… I thought I might prefer to be alone afterwards. If I could not have you…'

Vin gave a coy sideways smile. 'Y'c'n have me anytime ya want… now… tomorrow… whenever.'

Chanu took his hand. 'Now is good.'

Vin rose to his feet, pulling Chanu up with him, and led the way inside the one-room shack. Chris's bed was against the far wall and Vin looked at it for a moment, conscious of the strangeness of taking his lover there when he had only ever slept on the floor in the shack before. He wasn't sure why he'd chosen to come here, when he and Chanu were both happy with the ground, knowing only that it had something to do with his desire for romance as well as sex, although there was nothing very romantic about the crude structure around them.

Remembering their last encounter, he began to undress Chanu. Slipping the man's tunic over his head sent a surge of anticipation through his cock. Chanu was right: it wasn't about being a man or a woman. Revealing one's lover slowly, sensuously, was just plain exciting. Chanu's bare chest rose and fell with his shallow, eager breaths. His nipples were almost the same color as the surrounding skin but stood proud in their arousal. Vin pulled the cord at Chanu's waist as he had in his wagon but this time, with the man standing, the pants fell promptly to the floor. Unsure how to free the loincloth, he let Chanu loosen the end of the binding. He gave a faint gasp of pleasure when the man was finally naked before him.

It was the work of seconds for Vin to remove his gun belt and unbutton his pants. He stepped out of them and moved close to Chanu. When they embraced, their bodies touched from lip to toe. Vin was fully erect, his cock fit to burst, and yet his touch was light and loving. That first night, by the river, they'd both been cautious in the unexpected encounter. In his wagon, Vin had thrust himself deep into Chanu and then, by the cottonwood, Chanu had taken the lead. This time it was different. He saw the same confidence in Chanu as he felt in himself, both secure in wanting and being wanted, and yet neither of them was driving things forward.

Their kiss was long and unbroken, Vin first probing Chanu's mouth and then allowing Chanu to explore his. When their lips eventually parted, Chanu's tongue ran over his jaw, rubbing against the rough stubble there.

'Mebbe I shoulda shaved,' Vin said, wishing he had prepared as carefully as Chanu had for him.

'No.' Chanu mouthed his cheek gently. 'I like this. It is different.'

Like most of his people, Chanu grew no beard and his weeping cock now confirmed his enjoyment of the novelty. Vin ran a hand through Chanu's hair.

'I like this.'

He wore his own hair long because it was easier than keeping it trimmed but the allure of Chanu's far longer mane came as an unexpected bonus. When Chanu sat on the end of the bed and began to kiss his straining flesh, Vin wound the strands around his knuckles and then cradled his lover's scalp. All too soon, he had to use the grip to pull the lips away before his body's cravings got the better of him.

Pushing Chanu backwards, he straddled him and leaned over to kiss again. Without breaking contact, he stretched out and then manipulated them both onto their sides until as much skin as possible was touching down their lengths. His mood demanded intimacy and Chanu seemed to feel the same as he returned the embrace. Their kisses were passionate but tender, as they pressed their bodies together. Vin had never made love like that, and had no idea if he could climax without more direct stimulation, but the closeness met his emotional needs in a profoundly satisfying way.

Their cocks slithered over each other freely as they became coated in their juices. Vin gasped as ripples of pleasure from his loins began to flood his brain. He remembered something that had troubled him after their last rendezvous, something Chanu had said to which he'd given no response. He put his lips to Chanu's ear.

'Y'said afore that ya loved me.' He hesitated before saying something he had rarely said to a woman and never to a man. 'I feel the same.'

The arms around him tightened. When his lover's seed anointed him, Vin felt his body's reply and relaxed in the perfection of it. They lay like that for what seemed like an eternity, the evidence of their love trapped between their bodies, sealing their flesh as one.

It was only after many kisses and murmurs that Vin reluctantly peeled himself away to find a cloth to wipe their bodies clean. His hair snagged as he sat up, making him wince, but the pain stopped when the tangle snapped. Turning to check the damage, Vin found Chanu's hands cupped in an attempt to catch the beads that were spilling from the necklace that now hung from his hair. The quick reaction intercepted perhaps half of the beads but the rest bounced over the bed, rattling down onto the wooden floor below.

Vin grinned but then apologized hastily, sorry to have damaged the necklace.

Chanu shook his head, smiling. 'It does not matter.'

'We best find 'em all later. Don't reckon Chris has seen me wearin' no beads so he'll be wonderin' where they come from.' He offered another lingering kiss, before seeking out the rag.

He wasn't unduly worried about the beads. Chris might guess he'd had an Indian there but he'd surely think it was a girl. Vin couldn't see him so much as passing comment on it. Perhaps it was a sign of how relaxed he was feeling that he didn't pause to consider whether there had been a change in his demeanor lately, whether his sharp-eyed friends had noticed it or what they might make of it.

- 5 -

The sun was just peeping over the horizon when Vin woke. Its rays painted the undersides of the clouds in a hundred shades of gold, from lemon to ochre. He was pressed close to the back of the man in his arms, chest to shoulder blade, groin to butt, shin to calf. Although their campsite was far from the trail, chosen for privacy, lying naked and entwined still bordered on foolhardy but neither man had the strength to resist his temptation.

Becoming emotionally involved so soon after they first had sex had been a risk. Never having mastered casual flings like his friend Buck, Vin's few brief encounters convinced him only that they didn't suit his temperament. His nature was to care for someone, body and soul, or to do without. He'd known that the trip to Clarkstown might prove to be a disappointment but for once reality had exceeded all his dreams.

After five perfect days, he felt younger than he had in years. He'd challenged Chanu to races and shooting contests, knowing that he could not match his lover on a horse nor his lover match him with a gun but caring nothing for the outcomes in his joy at being together. Best of all were suppers by the fire and the loving that came later. He'd dozed off while still inside Chanu the previous night and now the half-dried proof of their love coated their skins.

Hard again, Vin drew his arms tighter around his lover. Chanu murmured softly, clinging stubbornly to sleep. Vin leaned closer to hear his words.

'Vin… beautiful Vin… love me?'

Knowing that a sleeping lover's words were not always welcome, Vin's heart swelled to find that Chanu's dreams were of him. He often dreamed of sex in the first light of dawn and his leisurely handjobs then were one of the few indulgences of his self-disciplined regime. Usually he was awake and aware but occasionally he did it in his sleep. His dreams then were so vivid that his return to the real world brought cold disappointment. Now he wondered if he could make love to Chanu without waking him.

He moved down an inch or two and aligned himself carefully, slipping easily over the fruits of their earlier passion. When he maneuvered his cock inside, Chanu's murmurs turned into low moans. He pushed against Vin, sending ripples of pleasure through Vin's body. Moving slowly as his own excitement built, Vin felt his lover begin to tense. Reaching around, he cradled Chanu's rigid shaft in his hand.

Vin teetered at the brink of his climax, like a man standing at the edge of a precipice, not moving a muscle as he tried to prolong his pleasure. Chanu mumbled a faint protest and then pushed backwards again. The movement sent Vin over the edge but, far from falling, he soared upwards on the wings of his love. His whole being seemed to flood into Chanu in the essence that flowed from him. Chanu's moans deepened as he thrust into the hand that Vin held cupped in readiness and then slumbered on, spent.

Vin drew back his hand and examined the fluid in the palm. It was like his and yet different too. There was a bit more than he usually produced, thick threads swirling in clearer liquid. His was smoother and creamier. He reluctantly wiped it on a clump of grass behind him, sorry to part with any piece of the man he had so quickly grown to adore.

The sun was well clear of the horizon when Chanu began to stir again.

'Did we…?'

'Uh-huh.'

'You should have woken me.'

'Y'seemed t'enjoy it good enough.'

'I was dreaming.'

''Bout me?'

'Yes.'

'Y'said I'm beautiful.'

'You are.'

'Y'asked if I loved you.'

'And do you?'

'Yup.'

Chanu pressed his body closer.

'Chanu.'

'Yes.'

'Wouldn't matter if I died tomorrow. These past few days bin all I ever wanted.'

'It would matter to me.'

Vin could understand that. It would matter to him if Chanu died too. 'I just wanted you to know how good you made me feel.'

'It is the same for me. I never thought to find this again… after Claire.'

Vin nodded. He'd seen the depth of Chanu's love for Claire in the depth of his despair at his loss. He did not need to be the first, or only, one to make Chanu feel that way. Far from it. He was happy, even proud, to inspire the same devotion.

In no hurry to start the day that would end their journey, they lay together for more than an hour before unwillingly breaking their embrace. They waded into the creek and lingered over washing each other's bodies.

Vin tried to banish all thought of the future, not knowing when things could be this way again. He was glad Chanu did not raise the subject, one of the things Vin thought he preferred about being with a man rather than a woman. Women were apt to want to discuss their trials and tribulations. A man of Chanu's race was more aware than most of the futility of a man complaining about things he cannot change.

When they returned to the trail, they rode so close that their legs brushed from time to time. Now and then, Vin rested his hand on Chanu's knee, eager to snatch every fleeting contact until they parted. Still half a day from Four Corners, they neared the point at which their paths diverged. Vin debated riding to the reservation with Chanu before heading home but knew that separation would be no less painful for being delayed. His heart sank slowly, as every stride took them nearer to the end of their time together. He had been silent for some time when Chanu's hand squeezed his thigh reassuringly.

'Do not be sad, my friend. You will be in my heart.'

Vin nodded, too choked to reply immediately. Finally he said, 'Let's not leave it too long, huh?'

Chanu glanced up at the moon, low and pale in the noon sky. It was nearly three-quarters full.

'I will wait by the winding water when the moon is full.'

Vin knew the meandering creek he meant and nodded. He would be there, if he could. No. He would be there, come what may. He watched disconsolately as the fork in the trail loomed closer. He reined back when they reached it, looked into Chanu's eyes and managed a smile. It was a shadow of the happy grin he'd worn so often during their journey but it was the best he could do.

They faced each other, horses side-by-side and head-to-tail, holding the moment. Then Vin did something foolish, something that he would not have done had he not felt so relaxed. He leaned over and kissed Chanu. Their lips brushed, nothing like the scorching kisses they'd shared in secluded spots on their ride but still rash in the middle of the wide valley bottom, too close to human habitation by far.

'Thanks for comin' along,' Vin said softly. 'I don't know when I last had such a good time.'

Chanu's eyes sparkled. 'You are a special man, Vin.'

'You too, Chanu. Till the full moon, then.'

He urged his horse onward with a final smile, his joy at what they'd shared outweighing his sorrow at its end. Only when he turned to catch one more glimpse of his lover before following the curve of the valley did his spirits plummet again. Coming down the hillside, about to intercept Chanu, was a large figure that he recognized instantly. The rider must have been passing through the sparse belt of trees below the ridge when they parted, their farewell kiss most likely in full view. Vin cursed himself for his carelessness, both in taking the risk and in not surveying the area better before he did so. There was nothing unusual in seeing someone there, and Josiah returning to town from the reservation was certainly far from exceptional.

With nothing to be done about it now, Vin waited patiently. Josiah touched his hat to Chanu and seemed to say something. Vin wondered how Chanu would react to the unexpected company. Would he take it in his stride? From such a distance, Vin couldn't tell but all looked normal as Chanu made some reply and went on his way.

Still Vin waited. He would normally ride back with Josiah and he planned to do so now. Josiah stirred his horse into a lope that covered the ground between them in no time. Vin studied his friend as he approached, seeing only the same easy greeting as always. Josiah was one of the most dependable men he knew, except for the odd bouts of guilt and self-loathing that occasionally got the better of him. It was only the man's religious beliefs that made Vin cautious of him now.

Josiah nodded to him. 'Vin. Good journey?'

'Yeah.' Vin hesitated, torn between saying as little as possible and keeping his deceits close to the truth. 'Just rode a ways with Chanu.'

'He said you had.'

Vin met Josiah's pale blue gaze. It was as open and friendly as it always was. He was almost sure the man had seen the kiss and knew that he and Chanu had done a good deal more than ride a ways together. If he did, he clearly planned to say nothing about it and, if there was one thing Vin was confident in, it was Josiah's integrity. If he had something to say, he'd say it. He wouldn't wait until they got back into town and then make trouble. Vin knew he'd been a fool to do what he did but also that he was damned lucky if Josiah was the only person to see it. He turned his horse alongside his friend's and matched his easy jog.

'Everything okay back in town?' He knew it was, since Josiah would not have been off visiting if it was not.

'Yup. Mary's itchin' to get her hands on that new type you picked up for her.'

Vin patted his saddlebag. He'd barely thought about the errand but at least he hadn't forgotten it completely. He'd haggled as hard as if Mary's money had been his own for the lead letterforms that sat heavily behind him. Clarkstown's Chronicle was folding, its proprietor having decided to give up and go back East. Mary would have liked to buy more of the machinery but could afford only the nearly-new set of type he now carried. Vin admired her for succeeding where the man had failed and showed no mercy in his bargaining. A fierce glare discouraged his only competitor in the auction, who wisely decided to make do with the press. In Vin's pants pocket was an untouched five-dollar bill, which he was looking forward to handing back to its owner.

'Vin?'

Dread crept over Vin as he looked across at the older man. 'Yeah?'

'Good to have you back.'

Vin knew then that Josiah had some inkling of what was going on, whether he'd seen the kiss or not. He was saying it didn't matter, that he for one would not like to see Vin move on because of it - something Vin had been thinking about suggesting to Chanu. He nodded.

'Good to be back, Josiah.'

It was the truth. However much he missed his lover, he still wanted to be a part of what he and his friends had built in this place and hoped that would be possible. The others were slowly putting down roots, so that now only Josiah and Ezra had no one in their lives. True to their characters, Buck and JD leapt in, while Chris and Nathan trod more carefully, but all four men were ensnared. To Vin, there was no difference between his feelings for Chanu and those he assumed his friends had for Louisa and Casey, Mary and Rain - but, ever the realist, he knew he might be in a very small minority on that point.

As he rode, he pondered what reactions he should expect if they discovered his relationship. Would they be as easy with it as Josiah? They had not judged the morality of his adulterous affair with Charlotte, although Chris had objected to the timing, but was this the same? He had no way of knowing. He also had no intention of telling them.

- 6 -

Slouched outside the saloon, draped over one chair with his feet on another, Vin tried to keep the idiotic grin off his face but it came back whenever he stopped thinking about it. Nine days had passed since his return from Clarkstown. For the first five, he'd been subdued. He missed Chanu and life in town was mundane compared with the ecstasies they'd shared. Only when he reached the mid-point of their separation did his spirits start to rise. With their next meeting closer than their last parting, his excitement slowly built. Now, with it only hours away, his self-control began to falter. If it wasn't his mouth gaping inanely, it was his toes tapping impatiently.

'Is an event of great significance impending, of which I am woefully ignorant?'

Ezra's voice brought Vin back to himself with a jolt. He hadn't even heard his friend approach and was taken totally by surprise. 'Huh?'

Ezra swept his hand disdainfully across the dusty seat of the next chair before settling himself comfortably. 'Your demeanor may be casual, Mr Tanner, but your toes tell another story.'

Vin frowned. Reserved as he was in many ways, he wasn't a great one for keeping secrets. While he did not discuss plans, or indeed other people's personal affairs, his heart was warm and open. On the wagon train, his feelings for Charlotte had been plain, to himself and to everyone else, in a matter of days. Now he realized that concealing his latest romance from his friends was not going to be easy. He'd probably already given it away to Josiah and now it was his own manner, not anything the former preacher had said or done, that threatened to expose him to Ezra.

There had been a time when that risk would have driven Vin from the town, when Ezra would have been the last man he'd want to know his secrets, but those days were long gone. Vin still did not trust Ezra with money, indeed experience had shown that the gambler could not even trust himself with money, but Vin did not expect him to make trouble over a friend's romantic affairs. He wasn't sure where that confidence came from, given that Ezra could be insensitive, like the time he quizzed Vin about his first night with Charlotte, but he had only been playing along with Buck then, neither of them realizing how deeply Vin was embroiled.

Vin studied Ezra thoughtfully. He did not show much interest in women. During their acquaintance, he'd pursued a widow because he wanted to build a casino on her land and then there'd been Li Pong. Vin had no idea what had passed between them but found himself surprisingly certain that Ezra would have behaved as a gentleman towards her. He had definitely paid her passage to San Francisco, in spite of her obvious willingness to stay with him. Vin doubted that he'd ever know what went on in Ezra's head but suspected the cosmopolitan Southerner would not be shocked by the idea of two men having sex. He might even find it appealing.

Conscious that his silence was telling, Vin cleared his throat.

'Nothin' I know of, Ezra. Reckon I'm jus' feelin' a mite restless.'

'Perhaps you should go for a ride.' Ezra's cool green gaze fixed on Vin disconcertingly. 'Get it out of your system.'

Vin stared back and then looked away, unnerved. The words might perhaps be innocent enough but the tone was heavy with significance. Or was he imagining that? For sure, life was becoming altogether too complicated.

'Mebbe I will.'

Decision made, he headed for the livery stables. He'd be early but better to await Chanu at the creek, out of sight of his friends, than to have the whole town guess his business.

The winding water to which Chanu had referred was some miles outside the reservation, on the side closest to town. Vin knew the Indians often hunted in that region and suspected quite a few of the townsfolk knew it too. He was glad that relations between the two communities were relaxed enough to permit it, when there were many places where Indians were shot on reservations and straying outside them would be asking for trouble.

Vin guessed why Chanu had picked that spot in particular. It was one of the few places within easy reach for both of them where they could be virtually certain of remaining undisturbed. The creek meandered slowly through a bog, in which it was all too easy for a horse to become trapped. With easier water and more game further downstream, there was no reason for anyone to risk the treacherous ground just there.

Dismounting at the edge, Vin muttered reassuringly to his horse while he considered the safest path. Unknown to most people, there was an island of bedrock at the center of the marsh and he now intended to make for it. Once there, a mere couple of hours from the chair in which he'd sat talking to Ezra, he would be as secluded as if he'd ridden three weeks into the desert. He led the gelding forward, its reluctance ebbing as it sensed his confidence. He could not risk leaving the beast outside the protection of the bog, at the mercy of wild animals and horse thieves, not to mention the fact that it would give away his presence.

He walked calmly from one clump of vegetation to the next, using his knowledge of the plants' water requirements to plan his route. The drought-tolerant prairie grasses were safe, while the bog rushes marked out the wetter patches as clearly as DANGER signs to a man with his experience. He covered the ground slowly but systematically, the water never once going above his horse's knees.

A thick fringe of rushes surrounded his destination and it was only there that he faltered, testing each step carefully before leading his horse forward. As the ground began to grow firmer under his feet, the vegetation around him became denser. Reeds gave way to bushes and, beyond them, a few small trees managed to survive on the thin soil.

Back on solid ground, Vin lengthened his stride. There was a pool in the center of the island and that was where Chanu would expect to find him. They had never discussed this place and yet he had known the precise location when Chanu said he would wait by the winding water. Perhaps it was obvious or perhaps they were remarkably in tune. When Vin reached the water, he knew it was the latter. He stopped in his tracks, admiring the view with the same broad grin as he'd worn in town. He hadn't been the only one fighting his anticipation.

Beside the pool lay Chanu, eyes half-closed, seemingly unsurprised by his arrival. When they met at Chris's shack, Chanu had dressed up in the headband and necklace; then, he had personified the proud dignity of his people. Now he wasn't wearing a stitch. Vin's appreciative gaze roamed over flawless tawny skin, tangled sable hair and hooded hazel eyes smoldering with lust. A man of many parts, today's Chanu was wild and free. The eager pole at his groin declared that he was also very horny.

'Reckoned t'beat you here.'

'I became impatient.'

'Me too,' Vin admitted. 'Figured I'd better git outta town afore everybody guessed I was waitin' on somethin'.'

Chanu smiled. With his thumb and forefinger, he fondled his cock alluringly, drawing the generous foreskin over its tip and massaging its silky folds. 'Was it worth the wait?'

Eyes fixed on the tantalizing shroud, Vin did not answer immediately. His foreskin most often sat behind his glans when he was soft, disappearing into nothing when he was hard. Of course, he'd noticed before that Chanu's skin was looser but he'd never realized a man could cover the head of his angry cock with flesh to spare. Perhaps one day he'd see if there was room in there for him too. Faintly shocked at the desire, he reluctantly abandoned his fantasies to respond to Chanu's question.

'Hell, yes.'

The affirmation came out in a hoarse whisper, making Vin clear his throat. He felt as light-headed as a young boy kissing his first girl. Chanu's ever-changing faces and moods made every time seem like the first. He kept catching Vin off balance. Now Vin felt dirty from the ride when he'd expected to have plenty of time to get cleaned up before Chanu arrived. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

'Undress for me.'

Chanu's tone was halfway between an instruction and a request. Vin raised an eyebrow.

'You told me that you can undress yourself,' Chanu teased. 'Do it.'

Vin grinned. As much as he looked forward to their rendezvous, he was still easy how he got his pleasure. Often his moods matched Chanu's but, even when they didn't start out that way, he mostly let the man lead him. He wasn't sure why that was, whether he was an accommodating lover or just one equally happy with all kinds of loving. He tossed his hat to one side carelessly. Stripping for Chanu certainly didn't bother him.

Facing his lover, Vin unbuttoned the placket of his shirt. It was his favorite, bottle-green cotton with metal buttons, and clean on that morning. With a seductive half-smile, he left the garment in place and unbuckled his gunbelt. He laid it beside his hat, feeling safe in their isolation and setting aside the caution with which he lived every day. He moved on to his boots, sodden from crossing the bog, standing on one leg to pull each boot off and flinging it after the gunbelt. When his neckerchief followed, he caught Chanu staring at his throat. He ran a hand around his neck, wondering what had caught his lover's attention, then raised an eyebrow.

'I like your …?' Chanu touched his own Adam's apple.

Vin kneaded the swelling in his windpipe, curious what could be appealing about a lump of gristle. 'Why?'

Chanu shrugged. 'I do not know.' He caressed his cock again. 'It excites me.'

Vin swallowed, then smiled to see how the movement of his larynx sent the tip of Chanu's tongue flickering hungrily over his lips.

'Is there something that you like… about me?' the Indian asked softly.

Vin studied the picture of perfection before his eyes. 'Aw, just about everything, I guess.'

That was true but Vin saw it was not the reply that Chanu wanted. He considered the question as he yanked his shirt out of his pants. He loved Chanu's thick black mane but it made him feel affectionate more than excited. While pulling the shirt over his head, he remembered his first glimpse of Chanu naked in the river. His undershirt followed his shirt onto the pile near his hat and gun. There was something about Chanu that drove him wild. Dropping his pants and drawers together, he stepped out of them, walked to within a yard of Chanu and stood squarely over him. He ran a finger down the contour between his abdominal muscles and right hip.

Chanu looked down at the twin grooves that framed his own groin. His stomach was more rounded than Vin's, making the undulations stand out more clearly. Lying propped on one elbow as he was, one side was taut while the other was creased. After considering Vin's answer, he asked, 'Is my body pleasurable to you?'

In different mood or company, Vin might have asked if it was a trick question. He was as hard as Chanu, leaving little doubt that the body was pleasurable to him. But Chanu's tone was serious and a little diffident. He meant was his the type of body that Vin liked in general, not was he was aroused by his lover's naked presence. While not in the habit of discussing his preferences, Vin knew what he liked in women - a slender figure with poise and grace - but he had never thought of men in that way. His past sexual encounters with them had always been opportunistic and he hadn't dwelled on the details and differences in their bodies. He knew only that Chanu made him feel good in every way and that his body was an important part of that.

'Afore I saw you in the river, waitin' on that bear, I didn't know how pleasurable a man's body could be,' he said truthfully. 'But you got no idea how many times I seen you like that in my dreams since.'

Chanu's eyes shone with happiness. Vin turned away abruptly, glad to reassure him but embarrassed at his own candor. He waded into the pool, explored its depths and, on finding the water only reached his thighs, sank to his knees. After dipping his face in the invigorating coolness he leaned back, arms braced behind him, to study Chanu. His unease evaporated when their eyes locked: there was no shame in loving him or in telling him so.

Chanu's hand returned to his cock. Gripping it lightly, he eased his foreskin to and fro across the rim of his glans. He looked down, shifted until the contours Vin had indicated were pronounced and symmetrical, then cupped his hand around his testicles and arranged them neatly on the top of his thigh. One finger traced the smooth shiny head of his phallus, smearing clear fluid over the skin, then he resumed his stroking.

Vin watched in fascination. He'd shared masturbation plenty of times, mutual and during anal intercourse, but this was new: a man masturbating specifically for him to watch, specifically for his delight. He'd said he wanted to watch Chanu beat the meat and now Chanu was letting him do just that. As he watched, he pondered idly on the fact that Chanu did it the same way he did. Of course, all men were built the same, and it wasn't as if anyone taught them to do it, but still it seemed strange, with their people so different in so many ways, that they did such a private thing in such a similar way.

'What are you thinking?'

Not too many people would ask Vin that and he liked the fact that Chanu did. 'That we're all the same under the skin,' he confessed. 'All jus' men.'

Chanu paused in his rhythm. 'Did you doubt that?'

'Nope. Jus' struck me right now is all.'

Chanu nodded. 'Eat and drink, sleep and mate - all creatures are alike.'

Vin hauled himself out of the pool, deeply refreshed, and laid down a couple of feet from Chanu. His hand settled on his cock as he watched Chanu's glide over his. He drew his foreskin upwards slowly, synchronizing himself ready to match the strokes in speed and length. In a way, it was bizarre to lie together doing what they'd been doing separately for nine days. Surely they should be clinging close in hot, sweaty passion? No doubt they would be later but, for the present, the perfect symmetry of their mirrored movements thrilled him.

He fixed his eyes on Chanu, watching his cock respond to the tender stimulation of his fingers. The same clear fluid coated his own fingers and, even as he saw Chanu tense, his pleasure began to escalate. Thick strings shot onto Chanu's stomach, then dribbled slowly into the lower groove and back to the base of the weapon that had fired them. Without breaking his rhythm, Vin shifted nearer to Chanu and directed his cock towards the channel. He was barely in time, the jets leaving his body as he aligned the tip. They fell in stripes over Chanu's seed. Dropping his spent flesh, Vin reached to mix their offerings with his forefinger, teasing their combined essence along the crease in the coffee-colored skin.

Chanu looked down and smiled. 'We are as one.'

'As one,' Vin agreed. He touched his lips to Chanu's yielding mouth, lingering lovingly over the kiss. They had the whole night ahead of them and he planned on savoring every second of their reunion.

- 7 -

Vin was studying a wanted poster when Chris joined him in the jail. He'd sifted through the latest stack that JD had left on the desk, examining the faces of men whose names he still could not read. His own face had appeared in the new arrivals twice in the time they'd guarded the town and both times JD had dutifully burned it, not only refusing to take action himself but also careful not to give anyone else the opportunity. It was over six months since the second occasion and Vin felt an increasing sense of relief at being old news. The more time that passed, the less likely it seemed that anyone would show up looking for him.

'Someone you know?' Chris asked in a low voice.

Vin shook his head. The man in the sketch was young. The artist had tried to make him look forbidding but failed miserably. Vin had been wondering whether the fresh-faced youth was guilty of whatever crime had put his picture on the poster. Tossing it back onto the stack, he wondered how many of the wanted men might be innocent. Perhaps some of those he'd taken in, to almost certain death, had been innocent too.

Chris looked at the discarded poster for a few seconds. 'Don't dwell on it, Vin.'

Vin looked up at him, wondering how far his friend had followed his thoughts.

'Guilty men go free, innocent men hang. That's the way of things. Least nobody seems to be after you for now.'

So Chris was bang on the nail, as he usually was. 'I'm okay, Chris. I was jus' thinkin' is all.'

Chris's expression lifted with the slow smile they sometimes saw when he was relaxed. 'Oh, I know you're okay. I don't know that I've ever seen you as okay as you've been lately.'

Vin frowned but had no time to reply before the door swung open and Buck and JD breezed in. They were at the tail end of one of their disputes, with Buck demanding, 'Go on, tell me I'm wrong.'

JD didn't rise to it, resorting instead to a reply he often gave the older man. 'You think you know everything, Buck.' It was an all-purpose answer that served him well, given that Buck did indeed think he knew everything and it saved the need to counter his convoluted arguments.

Vin still wore traces of the frown, as he considered what Chris might have meant by the strange remark.

'You all right, Vin?' JD asked. 'You don't look so good.' He glanced at Buck, then added, 'Maybe you should go see Nathan.'

'I'm fine.' Vin heard the edge in his own voice. He didn't sound fine.

'Gutache?' Buck guessed. 'Maybe it's something going around.'

'There's nothin' wrong with my… What d'ya mean goin' around?'

'Nothing.' Buck said, leaving the distinct impression that he meant something.

JD picked up the baton. 'We just see a couple o' fellas takin' Chanu in to see Nathan. He wasn't lookin' too good neither. Mind you, he was holdin' his head not his gut. Looked pretty rough as it goes.'

Before he could stop himself, Vin looked up sharply at JD. The kid looked back evenly. There had been a time when Vin could read him better than most people could read a book but JD had matured and now his expression was unfathomable. From the corner of his eye, Vin caught Chris's cool stare on him. On the other side, Buck was studying him too. He felt like a trapped animal, desperate to know how badly Chanu was hurt but at a loss as to how to find out without giving himself away. All in a moment, he realized that he didn't give a damn about secrecy if it cost him his last chance to see his lover alive. JD might have underestimated the injuries.

In the end, he strode out of the jail without offering any explanation. He saw no alternative, since he couldn't think of a plausible explanation for being so concerned about an acquaintance's aches and pains, gut or head. In any case, his initial shock had been clear enough to men as astute as they were. He crossed Main Street diagonally in a dozen long paces and strode into the small yard behind Nathan's clinic, straight into Ezra and Josiah. They were leaning casually on the fence, as if passing the time of day, but Vin didn't recall seeing them chatting together too often, let alone coincidentally in his path to the clinic. He wondered again what was going on, thinking fleetingly that JD might have lied but then discounting that as unlikely.

'Good afternoon, Mr-'

Vin swept by before Ezra could complete his greeting. He jogged up the stairs inside, then stopped dead when he heard a pain-filled yell. All his doubts disappeared as he recognized Chanu's voice, albeit unlike he'd ever heard it before. His hand flew to the door handle and, before he had time to think, he threw the door wide open without so much as knocking.

Nathan looked up in surprise, then suppressed a grin when he saw the identity of the intruder.

Vin took in the scene. Chanu lay on the treatment cot, a friend on each side pinning his shoulders with their knees and Nathan leaning over him with a pair of pliers in his right hand. Blood streamed out of Chanu's mouth onto a rag at his throat.

Nathan got to his feet, tossed something into a tray on the table and dropped the pliers heavily beside it.

'Af'noon, Vin. Bit early for visitin'.'

Vin studied Chanu, propped up on one elbow and wiping his mouth with the rag, realizing that he'd blown it big-time. 'I heard Chanu was hurt,' he offered lamely.

Nathan smiled. 'Let me guess where you heard that. Buck? JD?'

Christ, Vin thought. He'd fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

'You okay, Chanu?' Nathan checked. When his patient nodded, he made for the door. 'I was in the middle of… something when these fellas come by.' The pause, and the broad grin spreading over his face, said it all and Vin felt his face burn with embarrassment.

'We have… things to get,' the taller of Chanu's friends added, before they both scurried after Nathan. If they'd stayed around much longer, Vin reckoned they'd have started giggling.

Vin leaned against the edge of the table. 'Sorry, Chanu.'

Chanu pressed the wad of cotton to his mouth, soaking up as much blood as he could, and then took it away to speak. His voice was muffled by the swelling and slurred by the whisky Nathan had given him to dull the pain. 'It does not matter. My friends had guessed. I think your friends had guessed also.'

Vin nodded slowly. 'Seems that way.'

'Are you… ashamed of me?'

Vin shook his head.

'Do you fear they will betray you to people who are less… understanding?'

Vin shook his head again. He trusted his friends. He also didn't think they'd be fooling around like this if they had a problem with what he was doing. There was nothing to be done about it anyhow. There were only two paths open to him: keep seeing Chanu or stop seeing Chanu. The second wasn't even an option.

He went over and sat on the edge of the cot, his thigh against Chanu's hip. Taking the cloth, he dabbed the bloody lips tenderly. 'You sure you're okay?'

'Yes. There is pain but I can bear it.' Chanu pulled a paper bag from a leather pouch at his belt, releasing a powerful waft of aniseed, and explained, 'I like candy. Sometimes, when it grows small, I bite instead of suck. I broke a tooth. My friend had Nathan pull a tooth long ago, so he said we should come. I could not think of a reason not to come… except you. They tricked me.'

Vin shrugged it off. 'Seems like I got took in too.' He didn't blame Chanu for their being discovered.

Wiping away another trickle of blood, he traced its path with his tongue. Its iron tang, accompanied too often by death and injury in his life, was now just another facet of the man he loved. He hadn't known Chanu was partial to candy and filed the information away, thinking how much he would like to surprise him with a gift.

The week since their night by the winding water had dragged by and Vin found himself elated to be with Chanu again, whatever the circumstances. He went to the door and pushed the locking peg into the latch. Nothing overlooked the second-story window but he wasn't taking any chances when he tugged the skimpy drapes firmly into place. His friends would know what he was doing but no one else would see. He guessed that JD's ruse had only partly been a joke at his expense. More seriously, they wanted him to know that they knew, that he didn't need to hide his love from them and that he could depend on them to hide it from other people.

Tossing his hat and jacket aside, he laid down next to Chanu, tucking one arm around his shoulders to cradle his head and brushing his cheek lovingly with the knuckles of his other hand. If Chanu's pain was not too great, and if the whiskey left him able, they would make love in the privacy their friends had given them. If they could not, Vin would hold and comfort him. He heaved a deep sigh of contentment, secure in the knowledge that he did not have to choose between his lover and his friends.

- 8 -

'It is an important time for your people, yes?'

Vin had a mouthful of Chanu's shoulder when the man spoke. Pressed against his lover's back, he chewed lovingly on the smooth skin, relishing the feeling of his cock stirring again so soon after its recent release.

'Uh-huh,' he mumbled.

'Claire loved it.'

Vin stopped his exploration, sensitive to Chanu's mood but not in the least disturbed by the reference to his late wife. He shifted up so that Chanu's shoulder tucked neatly below his chin and pulled the buffalo robes more tightly around them. They were spending the night in the cave that had become a home from home for him as the autumn nights lengthened into winter. A fire blazed merrily beside them, its smoke curling lazily away towards a crack in the roof above, and they were snug as the proverbial bug in a rug.

It was Christmas Eve.

'Is it a happy time for you?' Chanu asked softly.

'Is now,' Vin replied just as softly, tightening his embrace.

'But you do not believe in the white man's God.'

Vin smiled at the simplification. They had never discussed his beliefs and he had been content to leave it that way. He certainly had no faith in the God served by men like Claire's father and nor did he believe in some of the fire and brimstone stuff he'd heard but none of that meant that he did not believe in God.

'I never said that.'

'Do you?'

The surprise in Chanu's question was clear. His hatred of what Moseley did to his wife, and tried to do to his people, had affected him deeply. Vin had wondered before whether admitting any association with the white man's religion might cost him dearly but he was not a man to lie to those closest to him.

'Did Claire?'

Chanu's body tensed in his arms and Vin felt him struggling to answer the question. Perhaps as much as a minute passed before he replied.

'Yes, he finally admitted. 'In spite of everything… in spite of him.'

'One man ain't a religion,' Vin whispered in his ear. 'One man ain't a people. You know that, Chanu.'

'But he…' Chanu twisted to look at him. 'What kind of God would let her die like that?'

'My people believe a man's free to choose his own path. He don't find out the cost of it till later.'

'Till after he dies,' Chanu snapped, echoing the words he had said to Vin in the jail so long before.

'That's about the size of it.'

Chanu gave a contemptuous snort. Vin was not put out by his skepticism but was confident enough in their relationship to speak his mind. 'Respect cuts both ways, Chanu. I ain't defending Moseley but my people got a right to their beliefs, jus' the same as yours.'

Chanu did not reply. Vin stroked his hair tenderly.

'Matter of fact,' he went on, 'I reckon the truth's somewheres in the middle. Josiah tells me those Chinese fellas on the railroad got their beliefs and they're different all over again. Seems to me like there cain't jus' be one path. Maybe we're all climbin' the same mountain on different trails.'

'And what if this is wicked?' Chanu asked in a low voice.

Vin knew that question troubled his lover and he knew why. It would trouble him if he thought he might be the cause of Chanu's eternal damnation although, if loving a man barred him from the Kingdom of Heaven, he had no desire to go there. In truth, he found the idea that what they shared could consign him to hell utterly ludicrous. How a God with the whole world to watch over could worry about such things was beyond him.

'It ain't.'

'How can you know that?'

'Because it don't feel that way. A man has to trust his conscience - he ain't got nothin' else to go on.'

He felt Chanu begin to relax but it was a while before he got a reply.

'Tell me about Christmas.'

Those few simple words brought on a surge of well-being, an affirmation that Chanu accepted him as he was, with all the baggage that their different heritages brought. He did not want to hear stories from the scriptures, which he had undoubtedly heard from his wife or father-in-law before, but instead to know what Christmas meant for his lover. Vin kissed his ear, returning to an intimate though not erotic mood. He wanted to share his memories, such as they were.

'Well,' he began thoughtfully. 'It ain't been right special the last few years. Things were still pretty tough in town last year and I was on the run afore that.' He had already told Chanu about the price on his head, not wanting him to be caught unawares if someone managed to collect on the bounty. He drifted back to the years in which he had been the one doing the collecting. 'Then there was the bounty huntin' an', 'fore that, the buffalo. Lived mostly with the Kiowa back then, an' a while with the Comanche' He stroked Chanu's flat, hairless stomach. 'Seems like I missed a lot of Christmases, thinkin' on it now.'

'When you were a boy?' Chanu prompted.

They had never talked about their childhoods.

'My Ma passed on when I was five. Cain't recall much about Christmas with her.'

'Your father?'

'Never knew my Pa. He died of the fever afore I made it into this world.'

Chanu rolled over to face him. Their lips met affectionately.

'I am sorry. I did not mean to bring you sorrow.'

Vin shook his head. 'I like to think on 'em now and then. Keeps 'em alive… in here.' He gestured to his heart. 'Wish I could remember my Ma clearer but I was jus' a kid.'

'What happened after she… passed on.'

Vin appreciated the way that Chanu picked up on the unfamiliar phrase, softening the reference to death as was customary for white folk. He touched their lips together again, savouring their closeness.

'Ole fella by the name of Ray took me in - I lived with him till I went my own way when I was fifteen. We kept in touch as best we could later, what with neither of us much at scribin'. I went down an' took care of him when his time come back in the summer.' He drifted back to the ten years he had spent with Ray Clark. 'He wasn't much of a one for church but he surely did like Christmas.'

Chanu rolled over so that his back was against Vin once more and pressed himself backwards so that his ass fit perfectly into the cup formed by Vin's groin. They often lay like that when talking, almost always with Vin doing the holding. He wasn't sure how or why they'd reached that agreement but they both seemed to like it.

'Things were different down in Texas from how they are here. Hardly got much by way of snow and you didn't see the animals gettin' ready for winter like you do here. We started our plannin' on Advent Sunday but, now I come to think on it, I ain't sure how Ray knew when it was Advent Sunday. Musta asked the preacher, I guess. Anyhow, once it come, I'd get a piece of candy every day right through to Twelfth Night. It was only a littl' ole sliver of hardened maple syrup, nothin' like them fancy canes you see young'uns with these days, but it tasted pretty darned good t'me. Drool used to slop around like it was ten times the size it was.'

The memories started to come thick and fast.

'Ray used ta keep a hog out back all year, then slaughter it come the fall. He'd hold back all the good stuff for Christmas, strings o' sausages and great slices of headcheese.' His stomach growled loudly at the vivid memory, making Chanu utter a sexy chuckle. 'Then there were the presents. He used to whittle toys for me in the evening after I'd gone to bed when I was a littl'un. Later on, he still managed to find stuff I wanted.'

Vin reached behind him and rummaged in the pocket of his coat. The harmonica he pulled out was battered, testifying to the many nights in which it had been his only friend. He blew tunelessly through it.

'Got me this one year. A knife the next.' Counting forward through the years brought him to the last Christmas before he left the place that had become his home. He laughed.

'What is funny?' Chanu asked.

'Last Christmas at home,' Vin grinned.

'Yes?'

Having backed himself into a corner, Vin wondered if he should say what his present that year had been. He kissed Chanu again, in confirmation of their union, then admitted, 'Her name was Rosie and she charged a dollar an hour.'

Chanu chuckled again, completely unconcerned by the revelation. 'Was she worth it?'

'Hell, yes. She give me an extra hour 'cause it was quiet for the holiday and we musta done it every which way. Set me off on the right road, that's for sure.'

'She has my gratitude,' Chanu said with mock solemnity.

'I guess that ain't really much of a thing for Christmas though.'

'I do not know about that.'

Catching the lilt in Chanu's voice, Vin smiled at the memory of the intense love-making they had shared not an hour before and said, 'Maybe you're right at that.' He wanted to know more about Chanu but it was useless to ask of Christmas. Following the theme that he'd stumbled on by chance, he asked, 'What was your first time?'

After a long pause, the question met with another. 'You know the custom of my people?'

Vin had lived with them for a while but knew far less about their customs than he did about those of the Kiowa and Comanche. 'Not when it comes to that, no.'

Chanu seemed uneasy with that reply, his body tensing within Vin's embrace.

'I ain't given ta comin' over all faint,' Vin mocked gently, trying to ease the tension.

'I told you what Moseley said to my people,' Chanu said stiffly.

'What's he got t'do with…' Vin faltered as he realized why Moseley had spoken openly of something that white men usually avoided at all costs. Most tribes had rites of passage for boys reaching manhood and he knew that some had a sexual aspect. 'You got the benefit of someone's experience an' all then?' he said lightly.

'You do not mind?'

'Why would I?'

'I do not know. I thought...'

'Long as you ain't foolin' around on me now.'

Vin was surprised at the words even as he spoke them. They had exchanged no vows of fidelity and he had no right to make such a demand. They could not marry and even Chanu's people had no tradition to bind two men together exclusively or permanently. In Vin's experience, all societies were set up with a view to raising children and anything that did not serve that was at best ignored and at worst marginalized. He waited, hoping Chanu would not resent his claim and yet loath to withdraw it, but he need not have worried.

'There is no one else. Is there another… for you?'

'Nope. Ain't no one else does this to me,' he slipped his hard cock into the cleft between Chanu's buttocks, 'Over an' over again.' He pushed gently back inside Chanu's body. 'An' I wouldn't want 'em to, neither.'

Chanu pressed tight against him, encasing his entire length, and entwining their fingers adoringly.

'Merry Christmas, Vin.'

The words had never meant so much to Vin, telling him not only that Chanu accepted his beliefs but also that he was being allowed to take his place in the white man's special season as Claire had taken hers.

'Merry Christmas, Chanu.'

With one last kiss, his mood shifted back from reflective intimacy into eager eroticism. The flexing of Chanu's flesh around his cock told him that he was not alone in his desire. There would be time for more talk later but, for now, they had no need of words to communicate their passion.

 

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