Scarlet Blade — Jez Morrow

1797. On board a ship bound for the New World, the dashing young Spanish nobleman Joaquin de Castille meets a handsome Roman named Tomas. Joaquin thinks he's been sent to heaven on Earth. But no, this is Hell at sea. Even though Joaquin's desire is returned, the most beautiful being ever to pass before his eyes turns out to be a priest from the Vatican, disgraced and exiled to the farthest possible place from Rome. For his part, Tomas has fallen in love at first sight with Joaquin, and Tomas isn't allowed to fall in love at all. He just wants one night of passion with this impossibly handsome man before the journey is done. He gets much more. There can be no future for the two together on the far shore. Joaquin is headed to his father's vast hacienda in California, while Tomas must go to a Spanish mission in Texas to serve among warring native tribes. Joaquin knows that landfall will signal the end of all their nights of ecstasy, but he cannot live without Tomas. He cannot let the affair end. Not ever.