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

HOT BREEZE blew down the canyon and into town, and small funnels of dust formed in the front walkways of the homes we passed. The mountainsides in the distance were a baked gold, incandescent in the early evening light. I maintained a loose hold on Gabriel’s arm as we walked toward his uncle’s house.
    Gabriel reached out and clasped my arm as I stumbled in a rut on the side of the road. I steadied myself and moved away from him, brushing down my skirts. “I’m sorry, Gabriel.”
    “No need to apologize, Rissa.” He offered his arm again, and I reached for it with shaking fingers. Gabriel reached down to cover my hand with his, holding it firmly in place. I moved a step closer to him, and we walked at a sedate pace to Aidan’s home on Pine Street. Although Aidan was currently in San Francisco, Amelia lived there as his housekeeper and cook. We spent many evenings there with our friends, at what had become our informal gathering place.
    “Clarissa,” Gabriel said with a note of hesitancy in his voice. “Won’t you tell me what troubles you?”
    “It’s nothing. Nothing that won’t be resolved with time.”
    “Have I done something?”
    “Of course not,” I whispered. I blinked rapidly to prevent any tears from falling.
    “You’ve been distant lately, darling. Tell me what I can do to help.”
    “There’s nothing you can do. It’s all my own doing.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat.
    He paused for a moment on the walkway toward his uncle’s house. “You say there’s nothing troubling you. Then in the next breath that there’s nothing I can do to help. Don’t you want what we had? Why did everything change in April?”
    “Gabriel, now is not the time,” I whispered, as I forced a smile at a passing couple.
    “When is the time? You’re never home. You don’t want me near you. I thought we’d moved past what happened in Boston.”
    “Gabriel—”
    “Dammit, Rissa,” he said, as he stepped in front of me and gripped both of my arms and glared at me with azure eyes lit with pain. “Be honest with me. Tell me what I can do to make you happy.”
    I shook my head. “There’s nothing you can do. I—”
    He backed away, releasing my arms before I finished. “I see. Well, can you at least act as though I make you happy for our friends? They’ve gone to some trouble for our anniversary dinner.” He motioned for me to precede him up the walkway.
    “For my sake, can you please try?” Gabriel asked again, as he knocked on the front door of his uncle’s house.
    I nodded, moving a step toward him and gripping his arm as Colin eased open the front door.
    “Welcome!” he said in a booming voice. He enveloped me in a warm hug before releasing me to slap Gabriel on the back. “Amelia’s in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on dinner. Seb and Ronan are in the living room, playing with little Nicholas, and Anne’s had her supper and is already asleep.”
    We entered the small foyer to Aidan’s house with its staircase leading upstairs. The main doorway was in the middle of the house. To the right was a large room he used as an office. To the left was a formal sitting room connected to a dining room. The previous owners had added a kitchen in the back, transforming the once-square, two-story building into an irregularly shaped residence. A pantry and another small storage room were next to the kitchen. Behind Aidan’s formal office was a bedroom, currently used by Amelia and her children. Upstairs, three nice-size bedrooms remained largely unused.
    “ Gavriel !” Nicholas yelled as he rose from the floor and clamped onto one of Gabriel’s legs. “We get to eat cake!”
    Gabriel chuckled as he ruffled Nicholas’s russet-colored hair. “That we do, little man. Today is a day to celebrate.”
    Nicholas scrambled back to Sebastian to continue their marbles match. Sebastian, our friend and overseer of one of the local lumber mills, glanced toward us and nodded, his long, lean