Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion: The Gastien Series, #3

By Caddy Rowland

   From the bustling streets of New York City to the smoky speakeasies of Roaring Twenties Chicago, Tristan finds huge financial success. Along with respect, tradition, and family, he promises himself that this will be enough. Having achieved peace by forgiving his father his debauchery, he's certain that there is nothing that could induce him to follow in his father's lascivious footsteps. Like father, like son will never apply to Tristan.

   Then the urgent whisper that has been telling him there should be more than what he is experiencing with his wife becomes a full blown roar. With a very proper wife that refuses to loosen up, Tristan learns that the passion of the father is very much the passion of the son. To deny it may be impossible, but to embrace it could cost him everything.

   This historical fiction novel is book 3 of a 5 book drama/family saga for adults (The Gastien Series). As such, it contains adult themes and graphic scenes.  Each book can stand on its own, but is most compelling read in order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caddy Rowland
• Release date: May 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781498991308

Caddy Rowland

The drama of humanity. We live, die, love, hate, win and lose in a never-ending variety of ways. Often those ways are heart-wrenching. Other times they are not. Why do people make the choices they do? Why do some abuse power? How do the powerless learn to survive? Why do a few dare to be different, while others conform—and why are so many disturbed by those who don't? These are the questions that have always haunted author Caddy Rowland. Those questions keep her pounding away at her keyboard, creating novels showcasing the sublime joy and bitter tragedy of being human. Caddy has always been a nonconformist. She likes to push the proverbial envelope when it comes to characterization and world building. Heroes have warts; villains have soft spots. Main characters don't always learn their lessons because all too often we don't, either. There isn't always a happy ending, but sometimes there is. Otherwise she'd be predictable. She writes for readers who like to think and feel; who like their stories to be raw, graphic, unpredictable, "real" and sometimes brutal. For readers who like their boundaries challenged; to be shown how rarely life decisions are truly black and white, but instead shades of grey. Think of a carnival midway with books instead of rides. She asks you make sure you're the minimum height if you plan on riding alone. You must also leave prejudices and inhibitions behind the entry gate. If you can’t, Rowland's reads might be a tad much for you. Don't worry. There are plenty of safer reads out there. Just step out of the line and find a more appropriate book for your reading enjoyment. No, Caddy Rowland's novels aren't for everyone. But then again, they just might be for you. Sign up for new book release information by copying and pasting this in your browser: http://eepurl.com/rfjaX

Book preview

Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion

(Book 3 of The Gastien Series)

By Caddy Rowland

Book Description

From the bustling streets of New York City to the smoky speakeasies of Roaring Twenties Chicago, Tristan finds huge financial success. Along with respect, tradition, and family, he promises himself that this will be enough. Having achieved peace by forgiving his father his debauchery, he's certain that there is nothing that could induce him to follow in his father's lascivious footsteps.

Like father, like son will never apply to Tristan.

Then the urgent whisper that has been telling him there should be more than what he is experiencing with his wife becomes a full blown roar. With a very proper wife that refuses to loosen up, Tristan learns that the passion of the father is very much the passion of the son. To deny it may be impossible, but to embrace it could cost him everything.

This historical fiction novel is book 3 of a 5 book drama/family saga for adults (The Gastien Series). Each book can stand on its own, but is most compelling read in order.

Books by Caddy Rowland:

––––––––

The Gastien Series

Gastien: The Cost of the Dream (Book 1)

Gastien: From Dream to Destiny (Book 2)

Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion (Book 3)

Giselle: Keeper of the Flame (Book 4)

Gastien: Circle of Destiny (Book 5)

There Was a House

House of Pleasure (Episode 1)

House of Pain (Episode 2)

House of Trickery (Episode 3)

Join Mailing List Alert for My New Releases: http://eepurl.com/rfjaX

Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/authorcaddyrowland  (hit the like button)

Blog:http://www.caddyrowlandblog.blogspot.com Writer of Fiction, Painter of Life & Energy

Author Email: [e-mail]

All honest and fair reviews are appreciated

Published by Caddy Rowland

First printing, May 2012

Copyright © Caddy Rowland 2012

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

––––––––

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy or copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Cover Design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.

http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com

This book is dedicated to my mother, Marcella, who always believed that I could do anything; and to my father, Henry, who would have been surprised that I have. They both loved me, in spite of my rebellious self.

Author’s Note:

I want to thank every reader who has followed me since the first book in this series (The Gastien Series). Your loyalty and emails mean the world to me. I also want to thank new readers who have just joined me and give you fair warning!

Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion is the third book in the historical fiction/family saga series called The Gastien Series. Tristan is the son of Gastien. In order to fully understand what makes Tristan the man that he is, it is strongly advised that you read the first two books in the series.

You will miss so much if you elect not to read the first two books, Gastien: The Cost of the Dream and Gastien: From Dream to Destiny. Please consider giving yourself the pleasure of enjoying this dramatic story about the Beauchamp family in its entirety.

And now, please allow me to present Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion.

-Caddy Rowland

NOTE: Glossary for all italicized words

***

Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion

(Book 3 of the Gastien Series)

Following the Dream

(Paris, France 1909)

I

––––––––

Tristan Michel sighed and quietly turned again in his bed. It was almost 4am! In just a few hours he needed to be up, getting ready to start the work day. So far this night sleep had eluded him. He tried not to wake his wife, Manon, with his restless tossing and turning. After all, she would have a full day tomorrow herself with the three children.

Their oldest, Laure, was five and all girl. She was convinced she was a princess and fully acted the part. Both he and Manon knew they needed to stop spoiling her, but Manon did not have the heart; and Tristan Michel simply did not have the time.

Besides, he reasoned, that was the woman’s responsibility. He had more than enough responsibilities at work, heading his own architectural firm. Buildings were going up almost faster than they could be planned in Montmartre, with Tristan Michel’s firm at the helm of the vast majority of them.

Their middle child, Auguste, was three. He was a quieter child, but still a three-year- old. He could get into something within seconds, seemingly before one’s back was even turned.

Benoit was the baby at two. Terrible two’s did not begin to describe what they were experiencing with him so far. Mon Dieu, that child had a pair of lungs on him! Tristan Michel was glad he did not have to deal with his tantrums all day long. He would shoot himself in the head if he did.

Tristan Michel pressed his eyes shut tightly, praying for a few hours of sleep. Today was going to be hell. Two new bids were going out, three presentations had to be made, and groundbreaking was occurring on a major project deep within old Paris itself. By the time he caught up on paperwork and notes, he would be lucky if he got home by ten o’clock tonight.

The culprit to his sleeplessness was the conversation with Mic last night about his father, Gastien. He had invited his father’s best ami out to dinner and finally confessed that he had been wrong in his judgment of Gastien. He had then beseeched Mic to tell him everything that he remembered about his father and his life.

He had wanted to ask Mic about his father for the last year or two. Once he finally got up the nerve to do so, he found that Mic was eager to share every memory, every detail.

Getting home after midnight, Tristan Michel hurried to bed, only to find himself haunted by thoughts of Gastien.

Gastien had never played it safe, Tristan Michel realized. His father had held a dream; had stopped at nothing to achieve it. Once there his father had constantly pushed the envelope of creativity, never caring if his paintings were accepted or ridiculed. He had been his own man and damn the consequences.

Tristan Michel sighed again. The hunger for excitement that had been whispering to him for the last several years was now a full blown scream; a scream that refused to be silenced, no matter how hard Tristan Michel tried to placate it.

He tried to tell the scream that it was more important to be accepted and successful than to be exciting. He explained that being conventional and down to earth were the kind of qualities that his wife, his family, and his associates admired and respected. Respect, he chided the scream, was something one had to work hard at to earn. Taking risky chances did not generally earn the type of respect and financial stability that being logical and hardworking did. Family and social responsibility – those were the things to keep at the forefront.

The scream intensified. Tristan Michel lay awake listening to its persistent roar.

Unlike his father, safe had always been important to him. Because his father had not provided a normal, stable family situation, he had been teased relentlessly at school. His mother Sophie’s family had never missed an opportunity to tell him how irresponsible his father was; how he mistreated Sophie and Tristan Michel himself by choosing not to allow them to live with him in his studio. He had known growing up that Gastien had loved him, but living with his mother at Aunt Odette’s and only going to stay at his father’s for two nights a week had been hard.

When he was a little boy, Tristan Michel had been crazy about his handsome father; however, it had seemed like his father just could not figure out how to relate to him. When he and his mother had visited, he had always felt glad when it was time go to bed at Aunt Cassie and Aunt Vic’s, so Gastien and Sophie could have the nights alone. His father had always worried that Tristan Michel would get into solvents or ruin a painting. Tristan Michel had wanted so badly to connect with his father, but it seemed more often than not things just fell apart.

Then, at about age eight, the teasing at school and in the neighborhood had begun. School mates and older kids said mean things about his father, making Tristan Michel ashamed. The other kids had gossiped constantly about his strange artist papa who did not love his wife and son enough to let them live with him. It was hinted that he did bad things with other women and was involved in a bohemian lifestyle.

At first, Tristan Michel had refused to believe those ugly things. He hadn’t even really understood what they were implying. Then one day when he was ten, he got out of school early and decided to surprise his father by visiting his studio. Tristan Michel had walked in to find his father with a female on her knees in front of him, his trousers unbuttoned. His father had forgotten to lock the door.

All of a sudden, Tristan Michel had understood the things the older children were saying. For the first time in his life, he began to believe the things both those children and his family said about his father.

As time went on, Gastien had developed both alcohol and drug habits that made him even more unreliable. Plans had often been made to be together, only to have his father forget to pick him up; or if Gastien did remember he would be drunk when Tristan Michel showed up at Gastien’s studio for the day.

When Tristan Michel was sixteen, Gastien had gotten very ill. Tristan Michel’s mother, Sophie, had stayed with Gastien until he was well. When she had returned back home a week later, she became ill herself.

Within the week she had died, at age 34. Tristan Michel had blamed his father, even though his head told him that even if they had lived a normal life she would have died. She still would have been around Gastien during his illness and caught sick.

His family had applied even more pressure to Tristan Michel, encouraging him to embrace their family side and turn his back on Gastien. They had taken a boy who was crushed with sorrow and used that sorrow to finally turn him fully against his father.

When Gastien returned to Odette’s after grieving, Tristan Michel had told him that he did not want to see him anymore. He simply watched as his father seemed to implode into himself. Gastien had begged him not to do that, not to ask him to stay away; but Tristan Michel had remained unmoved.

A few minutes later, he had gazed out the window as his father crumpled to his knees out front and wept. When the urge to run to him had hit Tristan Michel, he had hardened his heart, turning away to get on with his life; a life that did not include irresponsible bohemians.

He had hated his father for his addictions and for making his mother die. At least, he had thought he did. In a blind rage, Tristan Michel had destroyed each and every one of his father’s paintings after he had died; before Mic had a chance to rescue any of them. Every single one that is, except for Azure. That huge painting still hung from the high ceiling of Mic’s home and studio below Tristan Michel’s firm. Thank God he had lacked the ability to get it down, or that would have been destroyed, too.

When he thought of all the work he had sent to be burned he wanted to cry. Never mind that now it would not be considered weird but cutting edge. It would probably be worth a fortune in just a few years.

Tristan Michel did not care about that. He had more money than he needed. What he did care about was that he had nothing to remember his father by.

Ashamed, he remembered the last time he had seen his father. Tristan Michel had visited Gastien a few years after he had told his father he did not want to see him anymore. His guilt had made him walk over there on the off chance that he had been wrong, and his father was not an addict. Gastien had been high, making Tristan Michel feel sanctified in his convictions.

Trying to make amends, Gastien had given him a spectacular oil painting of Sophie with Tristan Michel nursing at her breast. It was probably the finest, most perfect portrait Gastien had ever done; and he was damn good at portraiture!

Tristan Michel had left; then slashed up the painting, throwing it in the gutter a little way down from his father’s studio. Knowing his father would probably find it, he had hoped it would break whatever pieces of Gastien’s heart might still be intact.

Mic, furious about Gastien’s work all being destroyed, did not talk to him for years. Mic had loved Gastien deeply, and he did not easily forgive someone destroying his ami’s work. Mic living in his studio below Tristan Michel’s firm made it awkward and uncomfortable. They ran into each other coming and going many times every week.

Mic had originally lived upstairs, because his father had given Mic the upstairs studio. Before Gastien had died, though, he legally gave Mic the downstairs studio where Gastien worked and lived, the storage space next to it, and the grounds. He had willed the upstairs studio to his son.

They had only recently begun greeting each other.

Because of the turbulent relationship with his father growing up, Tristan Michel clung to family and any normalcy he could find. Tradition had always been important to him. He vowed that he would be a stable and dependable provider, always making sure he was a family man.

Lately, however, the hunger to know more about his father grew in intensity, while at the same time discontent started to grow in his brain. He was now 28 years old. He had a lovely, reserved French wife, three beautiful healthy children, and an extremely successful business. That should have made him happy. Instead, he could not help but wonder if that was all there was to life.

Everything was so predictable! Where was the excitement; the challenge? Was every day going to be the same as the last one until he finally grew old and died? His father had not settled for routine. He would have shuddered to know his son did not have the courage to really do something that stood out in his chosen field.

This discontent – and wondering about what had made his father the man he had been – was what finally drove him to ask Mic out to dinner last night. He took Mic to Le Procope in the heart of Paris, where both Mic and Gastien had worked as waiters when they were about eighteen. Tristan Michel had admitted to Mic that he had been wrong about his father and begged Mic to tell him the story of Gastien.

Now here he lay, unable to sleep. He finally understood that although the relationship between his mother and father was nonconformist, they both went into it willingly. Sophie and he had loved each other deeply and had done their best to make their son secure. She had known and accepted that Gastien would have other women. His father had made that clear from the start.

Tristan Michel could finally accept that, regardless of how others believed, Gastien and Sophie had the right to have lived how they chose. As an adult, he was starting to see that the family had been wrong in not minding their own business. They were actually the ones to cause the disruption and heartache, not his father.

Thinking about how crazy his mother and father had been for each other, he felt jealous. For underneath the scream in Tristan Michel’s head was a dark, urgent whisper. This whisper told him that, by denying Gastien’s passion that ran in his veins, he was missing out on one of the greatest pleasures in life: fabulous, raw, urgent sex.

At times he fantasized about Manon becoming wanton, actually devouring his penis in her mouth, or what it would be like to experience more than one woman in his lifetime. Oh, the things he would like to do with a woman; if he could ever let himself go enough to do them!

He scolded himself for those undisciplined thoughts. Manon would never succumb to such whorish activities, nor would he want her to. Decent men and women treated sex as sacred.

Non, he was not going to lower himself to his father’s standards in regard to sexuality. Sex with a woman he treated with respect was enough, merci beaucoup! Humans were not animals.

He forcefully pushed the lewd images from his mind.

Thoughts immediately went back to Gastien and his art. That art had always been done with complete abandon. Tristan Michel knew that not only had Gastien been full of passion, his father had been full of courage.

He himself always played it safe. When was he going to take a chance; do something really new, like his father had? Would he wait until it was too late? Would his destiny be to end up forgotten because of mediocrity?

He knew Gastien would not want that. He would want his flesh and blood to do something to set the world on its backside and then spin it. He would have wanted his son to have the balls to stand up and say, I will no longer play it safe!

Tristan Michel constantly read with longing about the tall buildings that were being built in New York City and Chicago. They called them skyscrapers. What a thrill to be able to actually design and be involved in the building of those towering giants! He had carried dreams of giant, tall buildings in his head since he was about nine years old.

Tristan Michel took a shaky breath. Closing his eyes, he made a vow. I am going to do it. I am going to design the buildings that I daydream about and see in my sleep. I am not going to play it safe any longer! My wife may be upset, but it is her place to support me. I am going to sell my firm and start new.

Tristan Michel began planning. While it was true that some new designs would be accepted in France, the true trendsetters for architecture were no longer in Europe. The cutting edge in architecture was now across the ocean, where new ideas were commonly embraced.

And why not? Compared to Europe, the USA was a new country. It made sense that a new country would have shiny, new buildings; the tallest the world had ever seen.

Suddenly, he knew the only place he could go to make his dreams come alive. The decision was made. Tristan Michel was moving his family, and his future, to the United States of America.

II

––––––––

Tristan Michel must have finally fallen asleep, because the alarm scared him when it went off at six o’clock. Throughout the day he was busy with all of the things he had on his agenda. But he was not a person to waffle. Once a decision was made in his mind, it became a fact. Because of this, he was comfortable with filing it away in his mind while he waded through the many obligations of the day.

By the time he got home, it was too late to talk about the move with his wife. She would not be happy, and he didn’t want to sit up half of the night hearing all of the reasons that they should stay in France. He fell into bed at eleven, too exhausted to even think about his new plans.

The next day he called a meeting with his partners, announced that he was going to the USA, and offered them his majority share in the firm at a very hefty price. He told them that if they did not want the share, he would offer it to someone at a competing firm.

They jumped on the offer, even though it was a substantial amount of money. Tristan Michel’s firm was one of the top three heavy hitters in France when it came to building, and they did not want outsiders tearing into their piece of pie. Besides, there had been tension rising for the last couple of years between him and his partners.

Tristan Michel had been consumed by images of buildings ever since he was about ten years old. Since he did not have any friends, he spent his time daydreaming about the new buildings that he would build someday. He drew them, dreamed them, and talked about them to anybody who would listen. His family members encouraged him because they knew if he was talented enough it would be a very good way to earn a living. Soon Tristan Michel was as on fire for architecture as his father was about painting. Who needed friends, anyway?

When he started his firm at age 21, he was excited just to be building. He knew it would be awhile before he could implement the truly unique buildings of his dreams. As time went on, his firm did introduce some new looks in the world of Paris architecture. However, his partners balked whenever he began suggesting truly stepping off the edge into totally new designs which the public had yet to imagine.

To be fair, he couldn’t blame them. When starting out, he had partnered with solid, well known men in the world of architecture. With reputations already in place, they were hesitant about doing anything that would undermine that image. What they failed to understand is that reputations go stale if innovation isn’t embraced. Tristan Michel was not going to allow that to be said about him.

Paris, too, hindered his plans. He could not understand why after allowing 2,500 lbs of steel to become the Eiffel Tower, the city was simply not more forward thinking. It frustrated him that not only his partners refused to embrace his new ideas; the city itself seemed mired in the past.

Europe considered Paris cutting edge, but Tristan’s visions were far ahead of what others anywhere were doing. His visions of glass and steel were still just dreams. He might have to wait awhile to work in glass and steel, but at least in America his visions wouldn’t be laughed at. There had already been some experimentation in steel and glass there years ago. Those experiments were nothing to rival Tristan’s dreams of architectural art, but someone had at least started thinking about new looking buildings.

By noon the contract had been drawn up and signed. Tristan Michel was now a very rich man. He had been well off before today, but now he was extremely wealthy. Going to America and starting a new company was not going to be a problem. Of course, he would need to find clients once the business was up and running; but that didn’t worry him. Tristan knew his half sister, Giselle, would see to it that he met all of the right people. His firm in Paris was well known world-wide, and those right people would have already heard of him.

Giselle was the daughter of Nathalie and Gastien, and the result of Gastien’s first love affair at age eighteen. Nathalie had been the daughter of gentry, working as a buyer of fashion in Paris. When she ended up pregnant, she married Elliot, the man who had arranged to marry her years before. He adopted Giselle and had been thrilled with having a daughter, as he was unable to have children of his own.

Giselle didn’t even know that Gastien was her biological father until her sixteenth birthday. Giselle and her parents had visited Gastien shortly after that and had also met Sophie and Tristan Michel.

Tristan Michel, being about eleven, had promptly told Giselle that he wished she were a brother. Thankfully, she was mature enough to forgive him. Once he was a little bit older, they began writing to each other.

They had kept in touch over the years and had grown to appreciate each other. Giselle had moved to New York City in 1896 and was enjoying a successful career as a high end fashion designer. It seemed the wealthy New York women could not get enough of the French woman with her elegant ideas about fashion, her quick wit, and the ability to keep secrets. They went to her as much for therapy as for new fashions.

Tristan Michel glanced at his watch. It was now one o’clock. He quickly dictated a telegram to be sent right away to his sister in New York. Tristan wished that the telephone could be made handier. It was great for some things, but so far it could not work overseas.

Tristan Michel soon heard back and was pleased that his sister was thrilled about his plans. Three months did not give them much time. Over the next few months many telegrams would be exchanged, working out the details.

It was perfect timing. Early autumn would mean pleasant temperatures. He would be looking for a home, a business location, and getting the business off the ground. Giselle would be involved in making holiday fashions. By the time the holiday season came he would be ready to start courting clients. Giselle promised to make sure that he and Manon were invited to all of the important holiday parties. With the connections made at those, he should have no trouble becoming successful right from the start.

He heard often that people in America were a lot less formal than in Europe. Giselle had once told him that most didn’t go by both first and middle names. Perhaps it would be wise to start using just Tristan. It would sound friendlier, and more American to the people he wanted to do business with.

Yes, he thought, this first and middle name business in France had always been such a mouthful! Wouldn’t it be refreshing to be plain old Tristan? He decided to start using it immediately, so that he would be used to it by the time they arrived in their new country.

He cleared his calendar quickly and efficiently. Next he packed up his belongings and left the building his father had willed to him. He would return only to show up for the farewell party his old partners were busy planning for him.

On the way home, he started to have doubts. He shook off those feelings. America would be a wonderful adventure! Thankfully, both he and Manon knew how to speak English well, and the children were young enough that it would not be a problem for them to learn. Language would definitely not be an issue.

What would be an issue was the fact that Manon was a French woman through and through. She had many friends in Paris, not to mention her family. He became extremely nervous, and his stomach felt like it had been kicked hard. Manon was not going to take the news of their move well.

To be fair, how could he expect her to? She would be giving up everything except her children for his dream. There was also the possibility that she would refuse to go. No, it was not going to be a pleasant evening at all.

III

––––––––

When Tristan got home, chaos was king in the house. Laure was playing dress up with some of her mother’s old clothing and had managed in the meantime to spill a bottle of perfume. Auguste, of course, was covered in it. Benoit was shrieking at the top of his lungs, simply because he was two; and that is what two-year-olds do best. How Manon managed to stay sane and always look put-together he could not fathom.

Manon was surprised to see her husband home in the middle of the afternoon. Tristan Michel, are you ill? she asked worriedly, as she put a hand up to feel for fever.

No, Manon I’m fine. I just decided to come home early today.

He swallowed. This was not going to be easy. For one thing, it would be impossible to carry on an adult conversation with the three children in full gear. I need to talk to you alone. Could you please ask your parents if the children can stay with them tonight? You and I will go to dinner, say about half past seven. I want to take a nap before we go out.

Manon looked at him strangely. It was not unusual to go out to dinner together, but they had just done so three nights ago. Tristan valued his time with her and the children. She knew her husband; something was bothering him. She could always tell.

Manon opened her mouth to ask what it was and then thought better of it. Tristan Michel would share his thoughts when he was ready. Until then, it would be impossible to pry those thoughts out of him.

Of course, darling. Any preference where we eat? I will make the reservations while you rest.

Somewhere quiet and private, answered Tristan Michel. Oh, by the way, I would prefer if you start just addressing me by Tristan. It sounds so French to use both names. Too stuffy and old fashioned.

Manon arched her brows. So French? But, Tristan Michel, you ARE French! We are French! I don’t understand –

I just want to be called Tristan, Manon. That is all. Just Tristan. Not a big deal.

She looked puzzled, but acquiesced. All right, Tristan. I will try to remember, but it will be difficult after several years of Tristan Michel.

Yes, I’m sure it will take weeks.

He walked away; glad to be out of her sight. Her eyes asked too many questions.

As he stretched out on the bed, he tried to figure out the best way to break the news that they were leaving France to his wife. He figured the restaurant would help, as Manon wouldn’t want to make a scene in public.

But when it was time to go for dinner he realized that there was simply no good way to tell her.

IV

––––––––

He was glad to see that the restaurant was full. Knowing how Manon disliked public scenes, Tristan felt reasonably sure that the news would not result in a full blown argument in public.

Although Manon pressed him, he insisted on ordering and enjoying dinner before breaking his news. There was no reason to ruin the meal. Finally, over coffee, Manon could wait no longer.

Tristan Michel, what –

Just Tristan, please, he interjected.

Manon gave an exasperated roll of her eyes, and then started again. Fine. Tristan, what news are you keeping from me? My stomach has been tense ever since you came home early today. What in the world are you finding so hard to tell me?

Please, God, don’t let him want a divorce, prayed Manon. She thought they were so happy! She loved Tristan Michel deeply and tried to be everything he could possibly want in a wife. But men were funny creatures. What would she do if he left her with three small children?

Tristan Michel reached across the table and took her hand in his. Let me begin by saying first that I love you with all of my heart, Manon. You are a perfect mate and mother. I am extremely proud to have you as my wife.

Relief filled her face. Oh, thank God! She breathed easier. Tristan Mi – I mean Tristan, I love you too! You are everything I dreamed of for a husband.

She beamed at him. Their love was solid after all!

Tristan Michel suddenly realized that she had been afraid that he was leaving her. He felt terrible for having caused her to question their marriage.

Oh, Manon! I seem to have caused you worry in a way I never meant to. I have always been faithful to you and always will be! Believe me; I had enough of promiscuity watching my father. I never realized that my keeping news from you would possibly be interpreted as an end to my love, he assured her quietly. I will show you later on how very much I still desire you, if you will have me.

She gazed into his handsome face. He had inherited the striking features of his father. The dark brown eyes with gold flecks, almost black hair, and a perfect face with full, beautiful lips that cried out to be kissed. Oh, yes, Tristan Michel (for she would always think of him as Tristan Michel) was every bit as stunning as she had heard his father had been.

The only differences were that his looks were a bit more rugged, and he had inherited his mother’s curls. His beautiful hair refused to be tamed and caused much irritation to him. She thought his hair was sexy. So, unfortunately, did most other women. She knew women looked too long at her husband. She was always afraid that someday he would look back.

Manon herself was not lacking in looks. Her chestnut hair, soft brown eyes, and long lashes coexisted quite nicely with a full mouth and high cheekbones. She was curvy in all the right places without being plump.

Reviews for Tristan Michel

[crystaldotson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tristan Michel : Bloodline of Passion (Gastien Series)By: Caddy RowlandReviewed By: Crystal Trent Dotson Tristan doesn't want to be like his father, and tells Gastien he doesn't want to see him again. Tristan knows nothing could ever make him follow in his fathers footsteps. Soon after Tristan and his wife, Manon move to New York and Tristan becomes very successful but, he knows something is missing, a desire deep within that isn't being satisfied by his wife. While in Chicago he meets Billie, a luscious woman that gives him the thrill he's been longing for. He decides to divorce his wife and start a life with Billie, but little did he know he wouldn't be able to enjoy his life with her or that their son would grow up without either of them.This is the third book in this series, and it is breath taking. They was so many twists and surprises in it, it takes you on a ride and doesn't stop until the last page. I loved all three books and can't wait for the next one.