...Chaz studied the dark, lean man for a long minute. He’d shaved and cleaned up to prepare for this meeting. Without the hat and wearing a clean white shirt, he looked a bit less forbidding, the shadow of the man he might have been lurking just behind his present image. That man would have been a gentleman, perhaps even a scholar or an artist. Yet to be honest, Chaz had to admit the present persona, for all its rougher exterior, appealed to him much more.

A shiver ran over him again as he wondered what it would be like to feel this hard man’s hands on his skin, perhaps to be forced to submit to his attentions. The thought sent thrills of anticipation skittering along his nerves. Suddenly he was sure this would happen, perhaps not tonight but soon. The speculation was there behind Sombra’s pale eyes as the foreman looked at him, one eyebrow lifted in a mute question—as if asking, “Why the curiosity, the interest?”

Although he could not answer those questions, even to himself, Chaz knew they were valid. What about his foreman stirred his interest? He really could not say, but perhaps after the pain of his split with Aubrey he was finally ready to explore some new territory. “I never expected to find someone I could to talk to as an equal here in the wilderness,” he confessed. “It’s a refreshing surprise.”

“Don’t expect too much. I’m not that person anymore, the civilized and false young gentleman. I left him behind far and long ago. I’m never going back there, not ever again.”

With a nod to indicate he understood, Chaz rose, filled the heavy enamel mugs with coffee from the sooty pot on the back of the stove, and turned back to Sombra. “Let’s go into the den. We can start to look over the books and talk about where we are presently in the year’s business cycle of the ranch. I’m not sure I understand how this all works, but I know you can explain it to me. I get the feeling you worked very closely with Uncle Dab.”

Chaz had scarcely set the two mugs on the desk when Sombra grasped him by one arm and spun him around. The force of that spin carried him into an impact, chest to chest. He huffed out a breath as his body slammed against the other man’s solid length.

“Let’s get this over with right now. I saw the curiosity in your eyes, the speculation and the imagining. To answer those in a word, yes. We both have the same proclivity, it would seem. It got me in trouble years ago. Perhaps your family sent you out to the colonies for the same reason. Well, there’s nothing and no one now to tell us we can’t do as we wish.”

With that, Sombra pressed a savage kiss on Chaz’s lips, shutting off any reply he might have made. He curled one arm around Sombra’s waist, holding tight as the world rocked and spun beneath him. The kiss went on and on. Sombra’s tongue thrust demandingly against the seam of Chaz’s lips until they parted to give the dark man the admission he sought. He tasted of the spiced beef, with a hint of coffee and tobacco.

Finally Sombra lifted his head, separating their mouths. “I bet you like it rough, forceful and demanding so you can pretend you have no choice. Maybe I should’ve brought my quirt.”

Chaz staggered back two steps, reeling in shock. This was so sudden and so intense. “Er, no. Quite all right. I mean you can save all that for later, although I can picture you in your chaps and little more, maybe boots and spurs, and your hat…”

Sombra gave a harsh laugh. “I’ll not forget. For now, I’d like to see you on your knees, right here and right now.”

With his hands on Chaz’s shoulders, Sombra pushed him down, not hard enough to hurt, but with sufficient force there was no use to resist. Not that Chaz wished to. From his subservient position, he looked up at the powerful man who towered over him now, dark and dangerous, yet also so very attractive. The memory of Aubrey faded into mist and vanished, totally gone in a breath.

“Get rid of your shirt,” Sombra said. “I prefer my lovers at least partly bare.” While Chaz undid the buttons and slipped the soft cotton off his shoulders, Sombra unbuttoned his trousers, freeing his cock. It was as large, dark and powerful as the rest of him, thrusting out from a mat of dark curls revealed in the open vee when Sombra pushed back the sides of his heavy canvas pants.