“Who is this Marty she’s with?” Euan asked. “Have you met him, Flynn?”

“No. Why should I have met him?” Flynn stood up and went to the fridge. “There’s still half of that bottle left, Maggie. I’m tired and I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” He brought her the wine and bent to kiss her on the cheek.

“Goodnight, darling,” Maggie said. “Tomorrow we must have a celebration with Keely. Those labels are stunning.”

“They will adorn a very good wine,” Euan said.

A hesitant smile lifted Flynn’s lips. “That’s high praise.” He left them without another word.

“He’s very tired, poor love.” Maggie turned her piercing gaze on Euan. “Now, brother dear. There’s just the two of us. Pass me your glass and tell me all about Dianna.”

Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

“It can’t be the downy mildew, Baba.” Tony dragged his fingers backwards through his hair. “It’s got to be something else.”

Theo stood with his son among the semillon vines staring at the rows and rows of yellowing leaves. He shook his head slowly from side to side, then stopped as he felt the giddiness begin. He’d forgotten to take those tablets again.

Tony had come before breakfast to tell him something was wrong with the vines. He had thought the downy mildew had taken hold but there were no patches of white down on these leaves. They were yellow and had turned that way virtually overnight. He pulled off a leaf and inspected it closely. “It looks as if they’ve been poisoned,” he said.

“That’s what I thought, but how?”

Theo looked across the last row of yellowing vines beside him to a gap in the trees following the fenceline that marked the boundary between River Dynasty and Levallier Dell and he clenched his teeth. “Euan Levallier,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Everything has gone wrong with this piece of land.”

“You surely can’t blame Euan for that?”

“Maybe not the weather but the beetle outbreaks…”

“What do you think, that he keeps a supply in a jar and releases them here?”

“These vines have been poisoned, Tony,” Theo snapped. “None of us would do such a thing. It has to be our rivals.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Tony walked around the row of vines and over to the fence.

Theo followed him. “What are you looking at?”

“I wondered if there was any sign of whatever it is on Levallier’s vines. Maybe they’ve been affected, too.”

Both men climbed the fence and inspected the first row of sauvignon blanc vines. There was no evidence of the yellow leaves that covered the vines behind them.

“He’s not going to poison his own vines.” Theo cast a searching look over the Levallier Dell vines. The vines all appeared to be very healthy. He pursed his lips. His own vines had looked like this, before Tony found the downy mildew.