A Bordeaux Dynasty: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

selfishness, convinced he’d made the right choices and decisions.
    Hedonist, ladies’ man, with a passion for his vines and his many books, Aurélien was a Laverzac of a particular vintage. He’d always had original and very personal ideas that he’d applied to his family and business, with equal glee. He’d been an unpredictable father, capable of both tenderness and intolerance, which often left his family and friends baffled. The way he’d imposed Jules on his wife thirty years earlier had scandalized many people close to the family. But every day he congratulated himself for it. In hindsight, he considered Jules his biggest achievement. And only he knew to what extent.
    During Aurélien’s nap—a daily ritual—the people of Fonteyne pursued their own interests. Jules, tireless, charged up and down the fields. Alexandre and Dominique took refuge for a while in their house. Laurène typed letters.
    Louis-Marie and Pauline went to their room, the one Louis-Marie had occupied as a child. Like all the house’s rooms, it was large, with two windows and a fireplace. Pauline, kneeling on the carpet in front of the hearth, was looking at the fireplace’s log grate.
    “Did you have fires in the wintertime?”
    Louis-Marie burst out laughing. He loved his room, with its captain’s bed and all the memories it contained.
    “No, not really,” he said. “You had to carry logs all the way up here. Besides, it was plenty hot in the house. … It’s not like it’s some old drafty castle out of a gothic novel. And Fernande thought it was dangerous. At least that’s what she said. In reality, she had so much to do in the house that she didn’t feel like picking up ashes on top of it all.”
    “She must’ve pampered you boys.”
    “In her own way, yes. Robert was always trying to get her attention, but Alex and I were pretty self-sufficient. We didn’t need a whole lot of coddling.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    She let herself fall onto the bed next to him.
    “You should,” Louis-Marie said. “But we did have our eyes stuck on all the young women that my father hired.”
    He chuckled and she drew even closer to him. For a few moments, he admired his wife’s face, her feline eyes, her wild curls. He felt so overwhelmed by her, he turned away.
    “And Jules?” she asked.
    “Jules simply adored Fernande and was always giving her a hand with things. He never did anything like the others. But we didn’t mind it. Jules’s helpful and independent side made our lives easier. … He was an adorable kid, you can’t even begin to imagine …”
    Pauline sat up to take off her blouse.
    “What about Robert?” she asked. “How was he? Did you get along with him?”
    She had no qualms about asking questions. Louis-Marie sighed.
    “He was frivolous, charming … pretty funny … You’re still interested in him?”
    With an amused expression, she tossed her bra toward the foot of the bed and snuggled against her husband.
    “I really did like him, you know! He was creative and caring, very comfortable with his friends, but very clumsy with me. It’s nice that we … that we can talk about it and that you boys have buried the hatchet.”
    He nodded, though not altogether convinced.
    “Yeah, it’s nice … but I wish I was certain you’d completely forgotten about him.”
    She put her arms around Louis-Marie’s neck and pressed herself against his body.
    “You know he didn’t mean anything to me,” she whispered.
    He put his hands on Pauline’s breasts and caressed them gently.
    “No,” he said. “I don’t know anything for sure.”
    She stretched like a cat under his fingers. She had no desire to think about Robert anymore.
    “Dominique confided in me today,” she said. “Apparently your father and Jules are suffocating her. You think it’s true?”
    Louis-Marie shrugged, annoyed with Pauline’s gossip.
    “Someone has to be in charge,” he said. “And Alex doesn’t have the right