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For my good friend, Tina Haas, who didn’t complain one

bit when I asked her to help me research a winery in

Leelanau County. And to the staff at Black Star Farms,

who made our stay there an incredible experience. Any

errors I made or liberties I took in writing this book bear

no reflection on their winemaking knowledge and skill.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

JAYE MONROE didn’t consider herself the sort of woman to swoon, but as she sat with her stepmother in the stuffy office, listening to the lawyer read the contents of Frank Monroe’s will, she definitely felt light-headed.

Not only was her beloved father gone, but he’d left their Leelanau County vineyard, along with its winery and tasting room, in the sole possession of his second wife of seven years rather the daughter who had toiled by his side for the past nine to help make the Medallion label an up-and-coming success.

Upon hearing this, Margaret sent Jaye a spiteful grin, but the older woman’s glee didn’t last long.

The lawyer was saying, “As for the house, the collection of original eighteenth-century artwork and all of the antique furnishings with the exception of those found in the master bedroom suite, Frank wanted you to have those, Jaye. ”

“What?” both women shouted simultaneously.

Jaye straightened in her seat. Her stepmother slumped sideways.

“Mrs. Monroe?” the lawyer said, rising partway from his chair. “Are you all right?”

Jaye knew Margaret wasn’t the sort to swoon, either, but the older woman certainly enjoyed attention and had a flair for the dramatic.

“Water,” Margaret murmured, her heavily made-up eyelids flickering. “I need water. ”

“What about you, Miss Monroe?” the lawyer asked. “Can I get you anything?”

Jaye considered requesting a shot of something potent to numb the pain and outrage she was experiencing, but she shook her head.

When he returned, she said in as steady a voice as she could manage, “This can’t be right, Mr. Danielson. You must have read that part backward.

“I paid good money for those old paintings and gaudy antiques,” Margaret snapped, apparently having recovered from her near collapse.

“Yes, you enjoyed spending my father’s money on anything that caught your eye. ”

“He was my husband, so it was my money to spend,” the older woman retorted. Then she slumped back in her seat again. “I loved that man. What will I do without him?”

“Ladies, please. ” Jonas Danielson raised a bony hand to silence them. “I’m sorry, Miss Monroe, Mrs. Monroe. I know this must come as a shock to both of you, but this is what Frank stipulated in the will he had drawn up just prior to his death last month. ”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Jaye persisted. “I have my own house, my own furniture. ” All of which leaned toward the contemporary. “Dad and I built Medallion together. He can’t have intended to pull the rug out from under me this way. ”