Free Undaunted Love (PART ONE): Banished Saga, Book 3 by Ramona Flightner Page B

Gabriel everything filling me. I swayed, almost to the point of following him before I collapsed into my rocking chair. No one will want you but me . I shuddered at the whisper of memory, at the possibility of truth in those words.
    ***
    GABRIEL THRUST OPEN the swinging shutters of the Turf Bar, his boot heels forming a resounding clunk with each step on the battered wooden floors. He stalked toward the wooden bar with its scarred top, edging his way around customers leaning against it. He nodded his agreement when the bartender held up a glass and turned to look around. The darkened, seedy interior matched his mood. A man sat in a far corner, playing discordant music on a button accordion. Many of the low tables were occupied, most of the men sipping their drinks rather than telling tall tales.
    Gabriel slapped down his coin, picked up his beer and moved to a table in the shadows toward the rear of the bar. He sat with a thud and sighed. His glower and unfocused gaze prevented those who knew him from approaching. He continued to replay his argument with Clarissa, each time finding a way to breach her resistance to speak with him about what truly concerned her.
    “What’s the matter, McLeod?”
    Gabriel jerked toward the voice to his left, his body stiffening and readying for battle. “Cameron. I’d hoped you had enough sense to leave.”
    “Why would I? The town’s got other wealthy women.” His honey-brown eyes blurred with drink, he gripped his tankard of beer and glared at Gabriel.
    “I’d think you’d go to Butte. That’s where the real heiresses are.” Gabriel fisted his hands as he confronted the man who’d tormented his wife.
    “You just want me out of town. Away from Clarissa. So she isn’t reminded of what she gave up by marryin’ you.” His voice slurred, he waved one hand toward Gabriel.
    “Think what you like.”
    “What’s it like, bein’ with your wife, knowin’ that another had her first?” Cameron’s voice was low and taunting. “That no matter what you do, I’ll always be a part of her life? That every time you touch her, she’ll have the memory of my touch to compare it with?”
    In an instant, Gabriel had him by his shirt collar, dragging him from his chair and slamming him against the rear wall of the saloon. “Don’t you dare speak about her with me. You have no right. Not after what you did.”
    “I have every right.” Cameron gasped as Gabriel tightened his hold. “She should have been mine. Mine . She should have borne my children, rather than run off to you, you worthless immigrant.”
    “All you wanted was her money. And when you knew she didn’t want you, you tried to ruin her spirit, destroy her in the worst way. For that alone I should kill you.” Gabriel leaned his face into Cameron’s, his fiery gaze met by Cameron’s taunting brown eyes.
    “You should, and yet you haven’t. You’ve let me live. Seems that all your purported love for Clarissa doesn’t extend to defending her honor.”
    “You have no idea what honor is. I honor her by loving her. By cherishing her. By building a life with her. I can’t do that if I’m in jail for killing your worthless carcass.” He shook Cameron once more and then flung him away. Cameron fell to the floor and glared up at Gabriel.
    Cameron rose, brushing his hair into place and running his hands down the sleeves of his tattered jacket. “Seems to me, if you believe what you said, you wouldn’t be in a saloon looking miserable. You’d be home with your wife.”
    Gabriel glared at him and then turned to the other patrons in the room, noticing their hasty attempts to avert their curious stares. He grabbed his hat and strode from the room.

CHAPTER 9
    “HOW WAS THAT ANNIVERSARY, Missy?” Mr. Pickens sat in his chair in the rear of the Book Depository, next to a table of recently returned books.
    “Fine. Amelia cooked us a lovely meal.” I moved around the stacks of books, putting them away.
    “Seems a mighty