title: Tree of Gold
author: Laker, Rosalind
description: SILKEN PASSION, BITTER RIVALRY
  
  Gabrielle Roche is the exquisite young heiress to a silk dynasty, the makers of sumptuous fabrics for the emperor. She is about to be joined in marriage to the man her father has chosen for her. But as she stands at the altar, Gabrielle's thoughts keep turning to the handsome and exciting stranger she met that morning: Nicolas Devaux, her father's most hated rival. The moment their eyes met, she knew she could never belong to another.
  
  She tries to turn herself away from Nicolas, to bury herself in the work of her great silk company, battling for equality in a man's world. She competes with the house of Devaux -- even as her family schemes behind her back to destroy its master. When they drive him from Lyons in a wall of red flame and black betrayal, Gabrielle watches, stunned. Then she follows. From Napoleon's blood-soaked battlefields to London's tumultuous streets, Gabrielle's forbidden love cannot be denied nor her destiny altered.