Adam Marsland has a plan.
He’s been managing the Braided Crop Ranch for six years and wants to bring everybody he can find back for a week of games, competition, and celebration.
Henry Swift was a ponyboy at the BCR during its very first year. He learned to trot, pull a cart, and submit to his trainer. He’s never quite left the experience behind and is excited to receive Adam’s invitation to return.
But it’s not only the Ranch and its sex-positive atmosphere pulling Henry back to the seclusion of the Muskoka wilderness.
Ever since their first frantic and lustful encounter in the woods, Henry’s had a thing for Adam Marsland and his memories of his tumultuous time on the ranch have haunted him for years. Adam’s still at the ranch, and now Henry can go back and discover if the older man has any regret for the way things turned out in the past.
But the gymkhana Adam’s planning means the return of a plethora of ponyboys and trainers and Henry wonders if he will have trouble reminding Adam how much they wanted to be together back then, and how possible it might be for them now, in the midst of the excitement and testosterone.
No one ever said love was easy, but Henry is determined to make the most of his chance.
Title: Dark Horse
Series: The Braided Crop Ranch, Book Three
Author: AE Lister
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 10/19/2021
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 64100
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, BDSM, pony play, age-gap, entertainment, humiliation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, over 40, second chance, reunited
Amazon
Nine Star Press
Goodreads
As I grabbed my bag and headed toward the main house, my nerves got the better of me. I stopped at the steps to the front porch and waited a few moments to get myself together. I took a deep breath, tousled my hair so it wasn’t sitting flat from the heat, and walked forward.
The door creaked open, and I stepped inside the air-conditioned interior. I glanced to the end of the hall where Adam had spoken of placing a gift shop to sell photos and other items related to the BCR. And there it was—a stylized horseshoe on the sign that said Snacks and Souvenirs. I grinned, then focused on the young man at the front desk. There had been so many cars going through the gate they’d posted a staff member there, so I hadn’t yet spoken to anyone at the main house.
“Hi, there,” I said. “I’m registered for the gymkhana.”
The young blond man looked me up and down and pulled out a pen. “Can I have your name, please?”
“Swift. Henry Swift.”
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice say, “Connor, can you get me a readout of everyone who’s arrived so far? I think we’re still waiting for—”
I looked up to see Adam Marsland walking toward me, having emerged from his office. He stopped dead when he saw me.
The hairs on my arms stood up, and my face flushed as our gazes met.
“Henry?” he said, sounding awed. “Is it you?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, grinning.
He looked just the same. Maybe there was a little more salt and pepper in his dark hair, and the wrinkles beside his eyes were deeper. But he was even more handsome than I remembered.
Suddenly, he was embracing me, and I couldn’t believe how familiar he felt after all this time. Six years without him and I still felt this way?
He pressed me against his body, a little longer than having been good friends would have dictated was appropriate, then withdrew as if I’d burned him. He glanced around us, laughing nervously.
“It’s wonderful to see you! You’re just as gorgeous as I remember.”
I blushed. “Aw, shucks. Thanks. You look just the same.”
He held my gaze, and the energy that had sparked between us all those years ago was still there.
This is the third book in this series, with the manager of the ranch being one of the MC’s. The ponyboy is someone the reader hasn’t met before, having been at the ranch the first year it opened, six years prior.
I struggled a little more with this book, than book 2. Not as much with the main characters. They were working their way back to each other, after having had a fling when Henry had been at the ranch the first time. When the event was announced, Henry decided to go and try to work it out with Adam. My struggle was more with returning characters.
Kamal and Owen return for the gymkhana, as well as Jensen, Luke and Noah. And I just can’t seem to get the dynamic with Kamal and Luke. It’s clear that Luke gets off on being humiliated, and that’s cool, and Kamal doesn’t have a problem dishing that out, also cool. However, it’s just such an odd space to be in, and watch from the sidelines. In any other type of book, I would likely see this as a prelude to cheating, and turn away from it instantly. However, these books have sex, a lot of sex, sex between couples, sex between strangers, so it’s obvious that there are a lot of open relationships. But these two are just a bit too angry at each other for my tastes.
I did like the development between Adam and Henry, and really enjoyed having the owner show up and the entire ranch put a show on for her. It was fun to read, even as Adam stressed himself out for it.
3 pieces of eye candy
