Page 1 of Taken Away

PROLOGUE

Blackwood Estate & Winery

Mabel Blackwood

The early-June storm rolled across the Blue Ridge shortly after midnight, swallowing Blackwood Estate Vineyards in rain, thunder, and mountain fog.

Inside, warm light pooled against stone walls and dark wood floors.

Mabel Blackwood stood alone in the kitchen, a mug of chamomile tea warming her hands.

At sixty-nine, she was still beautiful. Silver threaded through her blonde hair now, but age had refined her rather than diminished her. Old photographs throughout the house still stopped people in their tracks—capturing her laughing into the wind, riding horseback, or standing proudly beside the barrels during the estate’s first harvest. A low growl rolled through the kitchen.

Mabel looked down.

Moose stood rigid near the mudroom door, his massive white body tense. The Great Pyrenees stared into the dark hallway beyond the kitchen, ears forward, chest rumbling.

“What is it?” she asked.

Beyond the windows, the vineyard had vanished beneath the storm. Wind moved through the vines with a whisper that brushed against the old house.

Moose crossed to the mudroom door and scratched once.

Mabel sighed.

“You picked a fine night for this.”

She set down her tea and crossed the kitchen, silk whispering against her ankles. The moment she opened the door, cool mountain air rushed in.

Moose stepped onto the porch.

Then stopped.

His ears flattened.

Instead of looking toward the vineyard, he stared up.

Toward the second-floor bedroom windows.

A low growl vibrated deep in his chest.

Lightning flashed, throwing the estate into a brief silver glare before night took it again.

“Go on,” Mabel murmured.

She expected headlights to cut up the drive. Bennett sometimes came late after working the lower blocks, usually with Moose acting as if the man had personally hung the moon.

But tonight, the driveway stayed dark.

Moose hesitated before lumbering down the porch steps into the yard.

Mabel locked the mudroom door behind him.

The deadbolt clicked into place.

She crossed back to the island and picked up the paperback beside the fruit bowl. The cover featured a broad-shouldered man in an unbuttoned flannel shirt standing behind a redhead at a lake at sunset.

Mabel snorted.