Reclaimed Love: Banished Saga, Book Two by Ramona Flightner Page A

about how she truly is. I worry about what is happening, and yet there is nothing I can do.”
    “Why are you worried? She is with her family.”
    “Yes, and with her stepmother and near my aunt. Two truly evil women.”
    “Surely your brother would tell you if anything were occurring.”
    “I would hope so,” Gabriel said. “Though he is very angry with me at the moment.”
    “You live a complicated life, Gabriel. One I do not envy,” Amelia said as she patted Nicholas’s head. The door flew open, and Liam, Matthew and Ronan entered.
    “Shut that door! You’re letting all of the heat out,” Amelia admonished.
    “Sorry, ma’am,” Ronan said as he closed the door. “Have you seen...” He glanced around the room and saw Gabriel sprawled in one of the chairs.
    “Gabriel?” Matthew finished the sentence. “What in damnation happened to you?” He unbuttoned his thick wool coat, untied a gray scarf from around his neck and took off a wool hat. He ran a hand through his black hair, setting the short strands on edge before he patted them down.
    “Matthew!” Amelia scolded his language as Liam nudged him in the side with a nod toward little Nicholas.
    “We hoped to meet you at the pub,” Liam said. He brushed his long mustache as he studied Gabriel and the nascent bruises forming along his jaw.
    “I was invited—”
    “Coerced more like,” Ronan muttered as he took in Gabriel’s swollen face.
    “—to go out with the men I work with. They wanted to spend some time with me outside of work.”
    “ Eejits . They think having a bar brawl is a bit of entertainment for them?” Liam asked as he studied Gabriel. “Did you hurt your hands?” He relaxed at Gabriel’s shake of his head.
    “It’s my own fault. I got this for my remarks about politics. Though I’m still unsure what I said that was so offensive.”
    “What were you talking about?” Ronan asked. He hung up his jacket alongside Matthew’s and rubbed his hands together to warm them as he moved into the living room.
    “The upcoming Senate election,” Gabriel said, opening his left eye to watch his friends.
    “Did you mention Marcus Daly?” Liam asked.
    “Probably.”
    “Well, that’s why you look like you do. Those loyal to him are a bit testy at the moment,” Matthew said.
    “And I thought politics in Boston was complicated,” Gabriel said on a groan.
    “Don’t you read the local papers? The Reveille ? The Standard ?” Liam asked. At Gabriel’s quick shake of his head, Liam said, “Well, I’d start reading them. Then you’ll have a better idea what’s going on and what not to talk about.”
    “Why is Daly so against Clark gaining the Senate seat?” Gabriel asked.
    “I can’t be sure why they loathe each other. Maybe it’s because one’s Catholic and the other isn’t,” Liam said as he settled into the other dilapidated chair in the room.
    “Or maybe it’s because some men can never share success,” Amelia muttered. She grabbed Nicholas and carried him toward the rocking chair where she sat to rock him.
    “At any rate, there is great animosity between the two men, and they’ll go to great lengths to beat the other,” Liam said.
    “It’s why Helena’s the state capitol and not Anaconda,” Ronan said. “Daly wanted Anaconda. Clark didn’t want him to win just to be ornery. Buckets full of money were spent, and, in the end, Daly lost.” He eyed the settee with Matthew sitting on the side with one leg made from books and opted to sprawl on the floor.
    “So now Daly is intent on preventing Clark from obtaining what he wants?” Gabriel said.
    “So it seems. Though by all accounts, Clark will be our next senator,” Matthew said. “Even if he is a bit corrupt.”
    “That’s like saying the pope’s slightly Catholic,” Liam muttered. “The man’s not had an altruistic thought in his life.”
    Gabriel chuckled. “Tonight I think they were most upset that I was from Boston. There’s nothing I can do to