Their feuding fathers never

could have predicted this...

He came to claim the Dawson Family Ranch...

But was Daisy Dawson’s heart part of the deal?

Harrison McCord was sure he was the rightful owner of the Dawson Family Ranch. And delivering Daisy Dawson’s baby on the side of the road was a mere diversion. Still, when Daisy found out his intentions, instead of pushing him away, she invited him in, figuring he’d start to see her in a whole new light. But what if she started seeing him that way, as well?

MELISSA SENATE has written many novels for Mills & Boon and other publishers, including her debut, See Jane Date, which was made into a TV movie. She also wrote seven books for Mills & Boon’s Special Edition line under the pen name Meg Maxwell. Her novels have been published in over twenty-ive countries. Melissa lives on the coast of Maine with her teenage son; their rescue shepherd mix, Flash; and a lap cat named Cleo. For more information, please visit her website, melissasenate.com

Also by Melissa Senate

For the Twins’ Sake

The Baby Switch!

Detective Barelli’s Legendary Triplets

Wyoming Christmas Surprise

To Keep Her Baby

A Promise for the Twins

A New Leash on Love

Rust Creek Falls Cinderella

Mummy and the Maverick

The Maverick’s Baby-in-Waiting

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Wyoming Special Delivery

Melissa Senate

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90340-4

WYOMING SPECIAL DELIVERY

© 2020 Melissa Senate

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Note to Readers

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

 Change of font size and line height

 Change of background and font colours

 Change of font

 Change justification

 Text to speech

For my mother.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Daisy Dawson’s wedding ceremony was supposed to start any minute, and there was no sign of the groom. At nine months pregnant, in a pretty but scratchy white lace maternity dress and peau de soie heels that pinched, standing around wasn’t exactly easy.

She poked her head out the door of the small room where she was getting ready. The special events hall of the Dawson Family Guest Ranch lodge had been beautifully decorated, thanks to her sister-in-law, Sara, who’d gone all out with pink and red roses, white tulle, and a red satin carpet runner to create an aisle. Thirty-six chairs were set up on both sides of the carpet. On the bride’s side, she saw her five brothers in the first row, all decked out in suits and Stetsons and cowboy boots. She saw her colleagues from the ranch. She saw old friends and newer ones.

But the other side of the aisle was still conspicuously empty of guests. No relatives or friends of the groom had arrived. That was really weird. Jacob was late and so were all the people he’d invited to their wedding?

Sure, Daisy. Right.

She poked her head back in and looked in the mirror, reality hitting her right in the nose. Jacob wasn’t coming to his own wedding. And since none of his guests had turned up, it was obvious that he’d let them know in advance that he was calling it off. How kind of him to tell everyone in his life but her.

Everyone who meant something special to her was waiting for her to walk down the aisle. And there wasn’t going to be a wedding. She shook her head, calling herself all kinds of a fool for ever thinking this was going to happen.

Ping!

Daisy eyed her phone on the vanity table with all her cosmetics and the curling iron she’d painstakingly used to get beachy waves in her straight light brown hair. The text was either from one of her brothers asking if everything was okay—since the ceremony was supposed to start at 5:00 p.m.—or it was her fiancé, Jacob, the cowardly fink, not facing her in person.

She grabbed her phone. It was Jacob.

I’m really sorry. But it hit me hard this morning that we don’t love each other and we’ve been forcing it. And I’ve been forcing that I can be a dad. I’m heading back to Cheyenne and might move east. Wish you and the baby all the best. J.

A burst of sadness got her in the heart at the same time that red-hot anger seized her. She stared at herself in the mirror, through her late mother’s beautiful lace veil, which she should have known would be bad luck. She’d tried, at least. Tried, tried, tried all summer to make it work with Jacob—she’d thought they were going to build a future together. A family. But her baby wouldn’t have a father.

She stuffed her phone in her little beaded cross-body purse and stalked out the back door and down the side steps, to where her Honda, with a Just Married sign with streamers on the back, waited to get her out of here.

She quickly got in the car and took a deep breath, flipped back the veil, then texted her brother Noah.

J called off the wedding. Need some time alone.

She reread Jacob’s text. Wish you and the baby all the best. Like he was some distant uncle! How dare he? She banged the phone against the steering wheel and chucked it out the window, then pulled off her engagement ring and threw it out, too. She grabbed the headpiece and veil off her head and tossed them on the back seat.

Then she peeled out, seeing the ridiculous streamers floating behind the car in the rearview mirror as she took off down the drive toward the gates of the ranch.

Where exactly am I going? she wondered, trying not to cry so she wouldn’t swerve into the wildflowers lining the road. She lived in the main house at the guest ranch, and no way could she deal with relative after relative, friend after friend coming to see her, feeling sorry for her. So forget about her sanctuary of her bedroom and pulling the quilt over her head for a few days.

Jacob had booked a weekend honeymoon for the two of them at the Starlight B&B in Prairie City, a half hour away. She supposed she could go there and lick her wounds and order their highly rated room service. Her cravings were insane these days. All she seemed to want was pasta in pink sauce with bacon and peas. And garlic bread. And chocolate cake. All B&Bs had chocolate cake, right?

Thinking of the food almost took her mind off being stood up at the altar and the sudden change to her future.

Not just hers. Her brothers’ futures, too. Four of the five Dawson men had scattered across Wyoming, and she’d been hoping to steer them back home to stay. She’d had big plans for becoming a secret amateur matchmaker at the wedding reception tonight, putting individually irresistible women for the four remaining Dawson bachelors under their unsuspecting noses. But some case she could make to Ford, Axel, Zeke and Rex for sticking around Bear Ridge, finding true love and settling down in their hometown, if not on their home ranch, now.

One of her brothers—Noah—had already done exactly that, which had given Daisy hope for the others. One down, five to go, right? Her wedding had brought them all home when being at the ranch, being in Bear Ridge, made them all feel...unsettled. But they’d inherited the ranch last winter from their father, and only Noah had stayed to rebuild the long-closed, run-down family business. Daisy, then five months pregnant and alone, had joined Noah in the mission, and no one had been more surprised than her when her baby’s father had come after her, saying he was sorry, that he wanted a second chance, that they could do this, after all: be a family. He’d lasted four months.

She’d thought she was getting married today. She’d thought she could convince her brothers that true love really did exist, even if it hadn’t for their father and various mothers—there were three moms among the Dawson siblings. She’d thought the Dawson clan could start fresh here together. She’d thought she could use the wedding festivities to show them they could be happy here. Among the guests she’d invited were at least eight women who would seriously appeal to each single brother for one reason or another. Falling in love would be just the ticket back. But after seeing their sister stood up at the altar—nine months pregnant with their little niece or nephew—the four remaining Dawson bachelors would hightail it out of Bear Ridge, which had always meant bad luck to all of them. Family was everything to Daisy. And not only had her dreams of building her own family with her baby’s father gone poof, but Ford, Axel, Zeke and Rex would most likely leave tonight or tomorrow and come back for her baby’s birth, then leave again after a day or two and return for Christmas. Maybe.

Family: the way it wasn’t supposed to be.

Daisy let out a sigh and kept driving, teary acceptance and pissed-as-hell fighting for dominance. Fifteen minutes later, the two still going at it, she drove down the service road on the outskirts of Bear Ridge that would eventually lead her to the freeway. But then her car made a weird sputtering sound. Crunch-creak. Then another. Crunch-creeeeeeeak.

Oh no. She quickly pulled over, turned off the engine, then tried to restart. Nothing.

“Nooo!” she yelped, hitting the steering wheel. Someone tell me this is all a bad dream. She looked around, out the windshield and both passenger windows. She was on some rural stretch, hay bales for acres on either side of her. Not another car in sight. She tried the ignition again. Dead. One more time, because you never knew. Still dead.

She rested her head against the steering wheel for a moment, the stretch tearing the side of her wedding gown. Fine with her. The minute she got to the Starlight, she’d be rolling it up in a wad and setting it on fire in a garbage can out front like she was Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale.

This really wasn’t her day after all.

Daisy grabbed her purse to get her phone to call for help, then grimaced. “Oh hell, that was stupid.” Her phone was behind the rosebushes on the side of the lodge. With her engagement ring. Her mom had often said, Daisy Rae Dawson, acting first and thinking later is gonna be your downfall, sweetcakes. Her beloved mother was right about that. Especially now.

She sat there for a second, taking another breath when she was hit with a strange, pulling sensation low in her belly. That was weird. She grabbed her stomach and started breathing the way she’d learned in Lamaze class. A minute or so later, it hit her again. Oh no. No, no, no. Were these contractions? Maybe they were the false early ones the Lamaze teacher had mentioned yesterday, when Jacob was there breathing deeply beside her, making her believe he was really committed to her and their child. She wasn’t due for another three weeks!

The pain got more intense. She stared at her silver watch with the mother-of-pearl face, a gift from her brothers for Christmas last year. The sweeping second hand told her the contractions were coming every minute and a half.

She was in labor. Left-at-the-altar, three-weeks-early labor.

Without a phone. On the side of the road. In rural Wyoming.

She got out of the car as another contraction sent her gripping the side of the door for support. She stared up and down the road, praying a vehicle would come by. Without an ax murderer in it.

She started pacing, keeping one hand on the car, but it was July and eighty-two degrees and the car was hot. Contraction! She bent over and let out the scream bursting from her. “Owww-weeee!”

Breathe, breathe, breathe, she reminded herself. She heard the sound of rushing wheels in the distance. A car! Yes! It was coming closer! She managed to pick up her head to look. Oh, thank God. Someone was coming and stopping behind her car.

A fancy silver SUV with Wyoming plates. Not one of her brothers’ cars. Or anyone she knew. One of the guests at the ranch had a fancy silver SUV, now that she thought about it.

“Owww-weeee!” She yelped and doubled over as the contraction seized her.

She heard a car door open and close, footsteps rushing toward her.

“I’ll help you get in my SUV,” a male voice said, coming closer. “I’m not a stranger,” he added quickly as he bent down where she stood to sort of make eye contact. “I’m a guest at Dawson’s ranch.”

She glanced up. It was him. He might not be a stranger or an ax murderer, but he was kind of mysterious. He’d been at the ranch for two days yet didn’t seem remotely interested in the horses or activities. She’d even mentioned to Noah, the foreman, that something was up with the guest who’d booked Cabin No. 1, which slept four, all for himself, and then hadn’t gotten on a horse the entire time he was here.

Maybe he was an ax murderer.

“No time,” she managed to croak out as she dropped to her knees, then backward onto her butt. “The baby...is...coming! Owww-weeee!”

Over her earsplitting yelp, she still heard him gasp and saw him grab his phone, then listened to him frantically explain the situation to the 911 dispatcher.

“Okay,” he was saying into the phone with accompanying nodding. “Okay. Okay. Okay, I think I can do that. Okay.”

“Owww-weeee!” she screamed, eyes squeezed shut as she bore down.

“Oh God,” he said, rushing to kneel in front of her.

He lifted up her wedding dress and cast it over her knees. She heard him run away and thought noo, don’t leave me, but then he was back, and she realized he was cutting off her ridiculous lace maternity undies with a Swiss army knife.

She had the urge to bear down again. And grunted and did.

“The ambulance is coming,” he assured her. “Just hang on, Daisy.”

“I’ll try,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. “But I can’t!” she croaked out, opening her eyes. “You’re...about...to...owww-weeee...deliver my...baby!” she yelped.

Harrison McCord’s brain fought to catch up with what was happening. Not forty-five minutes ago, he’d seen Daisy, all decked out in bridal wear, walk into the ranch lodge with another woman who he recognized as her sister-in-law. Now, Daisy was still in the wedding dress, which was dirty in some spots along the bottom. But she was alone, no rings on her finger, he noticed, on the side of a road. And, if he wasn’t mistaken, in labor. What the heck had happened between then and this minute?

“What can I do?” he asked, his voice frantic.

“Get...these pinching shoes...off me!” she barked out before leaning back and shouting, “Owww-weeee!” That was followed by four fast breaths. Then four more.

He took the white shoes off her feet, and her face relaxed for a second, then the panting, grunting and yelping, and breathing started again.

“The baby. Is. Coming!” she screamed. She scrunched up her face.

“Oh God,” he said. Again he lifted the long lacy gown and flung the edge up over her knees. He could see the baby’s head. Whoa.

He forgot everything the dispatcher had said. What the hell do I do? Instinct must have taken over, because he took off his dress shirt and held it carefully under the head as he guided the baby—a boy—out. He then gently wrapped the messy newborn in his shirt and handed him to Daisy.

“It’s a boy!” he announced.

Her mouth opened in a kind of wonder as she took the newborn and held him against her, tears running down her cheeks.

He heard sirens in the distance, coming closer. “That’s the ambulance,” he said, relief flooding him. It pulled up in front of Daisy’s car, and two guys and a woman jumped out, one wheeling a stretcher. An EMT took the baby while the other two helped Daisy onto the stretcher.

“Thank you so much,” she said to Harrison, her blue eyes misty. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” His heart was beating a zillion miles a minute. He had to sit down before he passed out.

“Call my brother Noah, the foreman at the ranch,” she shouted out to him as the EMTs loaded her into the back of the ambulance.

“Will do!” he called back.

He’d just delivered a baby. On the side of the road. He was grateful he’d been wearing a T-shirt under his dress shirt or he’d have helped bring the newborn into the world half-naked.

The ambulance making a racket as it drove away, he was stirred to action. He pulled out his phone and called the guest ranch and asked for foreman Noah Dawson’s cell phone number, adding that it was an emergency. He’d been watching Noah the past couple of days. Daisy, too. Watching everything. Unfortunately, the Dawsons seemed like good people. But as his dad used to say, that was neither here nor there.

He punched in Noah’s number. He answered right away.

“Noah Dawson. What’s the emergency?”

“This is Harrison McCord from Cabin No. 1,” he said. “I just helped deliver your sister Daisy’s baby on the side of the service road onto Route 26. She doesn’t seem to have a phone with her. The ambulance took her to Prairie City General.”

“What?” Noah bellowed. “Is the baby okay? Is Daisy okay?”

“They both seemed fine,” he said. “It’s a boy, by the way.”

“We’re on our way. Thanks for helping Daisy.”

Harrison pocketed his phone and got back in his car, just sitting there behind the wheel for a moment, barely able to process what had just happened. A single workaholic businessman, he had no siblings to provide baby nieces and nephews, and he didn’t think he’d ever held a baby in his life—until today.

He drove the fifteen minutes to Prairie City and pulled into a spot in the hospital parking lot, then stopped in the gift shop. There were congratulations balloons, get-well balloons and an entire section devoted to stuffed animals, big and small. He eyed a soft and squishy medium-sized light brown teddy bear with a plaid bow tie and bought it, then followed the signs to Maternity.

In the elevator he stared at the bear, unable to fully comprehend how he’d ended up here, holding this stuffed toy, about to visit a new mother he hadn’t more than nodded at while seeing her at the ranch the past couple of days. A new mother who would hate his guts when she found out why he was really at the ranch.

Daisy was in room 508. He sucked in a breath and peered in the open door. Now in a hospital gown with a thin white blanket covering half of her, she was alone—well, except for the baby in her arms, her gaze so full of wonder as she stared at the infant that he felt he was intruding. He was about to turn around and flee when she said, “You! My hero!”

Harrison offered what had to be an awkward smile and walked fully into the room.

She smiled at him. “I’m sorry—as guest relations manager of the ranch, I’d normally know your name, where you’re from, if you like decaf or regular for your cabin, but I took this past week off for the wedding. I wasn’t even thinking I’d need to start my maternity leave so soon.” She smiled a dazzling smile. Wow, she was pretty. All glowy and happy. “But I do recognize you as one of our guests. Guess you didn’t expect your day to go quite like this.”

He had to laugh. “Nope. Definitely not. But I’m glad I happened to be driving down that road. You didn’t have a phone to call for help?”

She frowned and glanced down at the baby. “As you probably figured out from my outfit and the dumb sign on the back of my car, I was supposed to get married today. The groom, my newborn son’s father, didn’t show and sent me a Dear Jane text. I got pissed and chucked my phone out the window of my car. Dumb, I know.”

The father of her baby had left her at the altar? When she was nine months pregnant?

“Sorry about the wedding,” he said, unable to even imagine what that must have felt like. He’d never come close to marrying. Or proposing to anyone. But he’d been betrayed before and knew what that felt like.

“I’m sure I dodged a bullet. We weren’t right for each other, and we both knew it.”

So did he, despite not even having met her before today. Because he’d been keeping watch over the Dawson family and the only two of the six siblings who worked at the ranch, he’d made a point of taking a tailing walk whenever he noticed Daisy strolling a path with the fiancé, a surfer-cowboy type. Their body language was always so awkward. They never held hands or kissed, though they did take a lot of walks on the paths, which was how he managed to spy on them so often. He’d wondered about their relationship because they barely seemed like a couple, yet he’d overheard her tell the fiancé it was time to get to Lamaze yesterday, and off they’d gone.

She waved a hand in front of her. “Anyway. That is old news. This,” she said, smiling down at the baby, “is breaking news and all that matters.”

The love and reverence and sincerity in her voice caught him by surprise, and for a moment, he just gazed at the baby with her. Finally, he cleared his throat. “My name is Harrison McCord,” he said, stiffly sitting down in the chair by her bed. “I got you a little something. Well, I got him a little something,” he added, gesturing at the tiny human lying alongside her arm. The newborn was skinny and cute with wispy brown curls. His eyes were closed at the moment. “I’m in Cabin No. 1 at the ranch. I booked it for the week.”

“But it’s just you?” she asked. “Cabin No. 1 sleeps four.”

“Just me,” he said.

She waited a beat, as if she expected him to elaborate, but now was certainly not the time or the place. He’d wait a couple days, give her a chance to settle back at the main house at the ranch with the baby, and then he’d ask for a meeting with her and her brother. And drop a bombshell. The timing wasn’t good, but that couldn’t he helped.

“So what’s his name?” he asked.

“Tony. After my late grandpa, Anthony Dawson. I haven’t decided on a middle name,” she said. “Given what you did for me—for us—I’d like to use your middle initial.”

He gaped at her. No, no, no, no, no. Noooo. “That’s very thoughtful, but there’s no need for that.”

“You came to our rescue, Harrison. You helped bring this little guy into the world. I’d like to honor that.”

He swallowed, his T-shirt suddenly tight around his neck. “Um, I...don’t have a middle name,” he lied. He actually did—Leo. “I’d better get going,” he added, bolting up. “I did call your brother. He’s on the way.” He put the teddy bear on the table beside her bed.

She tilted her head at him. “Oh. Okay. Well, thanks again. For everything.”

As she turned her attention back to the baby, he took one last look at her, not wanting to leave—but how could he stay? Now that he’d met Daisy Dawson under these unusual circumstances—like delivering her baby and calling her brother and visiting her in the hospital and bringing baby Tony a teddy bear and hearing how she’d been left at the altar—he felt something of a connection to the new mother. The news he planned to deliver in a couple days wouldn’t be as cut-and-dried as he’d expected.

It’s just straight-up, on-paper business, he reminded himself. Nothing personal.

She wanted to give her baby his middle initial!

Things with Daisy Dawson had suddenly gotten very personal.

Chapter Two

Okay, Cabin No. 1 guest who very unexpectedly helped deliver her baby? Definitely mysterious. Her wanting to use his middle initial for Tony’s middle name had him jumping up like an electrocuted porcupine. What was with the guy?

Then again, he’d had a pretty eventful last hour.

“Well, Tony,” she said, looking at her baby son. “It’s just me and you. And I think I’ll use my mother’s first initial for your middle name. Her name was Leah. Let’s see... Liam. Lucas. Lawrence. Lee, Landon, Lincoln. Louis. Levi. Leonardo DiCaprio.” She stared at Tony, thinking he didn’t look anything like the actor. “How about Lester, as in Lester Holt?” she suggested. “Tony Lester Dawson. Tony Lucas Dawson. Tony Lincoln Dawson. Hey,” she whispered. “I think we have a winner. Very presidential, right? Anthony Lincoln Dawson, it is.”

Luckily she’d gotten the name squared away, because the room suddenly filled with the five Dawson brothers and Sara, her sister-in-law and best friend. There were gasps and oohs and ahhs and so many flowers, balloons and stuffed animals, a few huge, that another person could not squeeze in.

“I present your nephew, Anthony ‘Tony’ Lincoln Dawson,” she said. “Tony for his very special great-grandpa Anthony Dawson.” Gramps had always been called Anth, interestingly enough, a nickname started by his mother when he was very young, but the moment Harrison McCord had helped place the newborn on her chest on the side of that road, she’d instantly thought: Tony.

“Gramps would like that,” Axel said, and they all nodded reverently.

“The L in Lincoln for Mom?” Noah asked with a gentle smile.

Daisy gave a teary nod just thinking what a wonderful nana Leah Dawson would have been. The six Dawson siblings had three mothers among them. Ford from the first marriage, Rex, Zeke and Axel from the second, and Daisy and Noah from the third. The siblings had all gotten to know Daisy and Noah’s mother pretty well since she’d been so kind and welcoming that their mothers had felt comfortable dropping them off for weekends and weeks in summer with their not-exactly-attentive father. That had stopped when Leah had died when Daisy was eleven, though. A few hours here and there were all the other two mothers had trusted Bo Dawson with their kids.

“That’s really nice, Daisy,” Noah said, and she could see how touched he was.

“So Tony for Gramps, Lincoln for my mom, and Dawson because Jacob called off the wedding and being a father.” She explained about the text. Tossing her phone and engagement ring. And then about her car sputtering on the service road and Harrison McCord coming to her aid.

“We all owe him one,” Noah said. “No phone, hot as hell out, rural stretch of road. Thank God he came along.”

Daisy nodded. “I kind of wonder why he did, though. There’s something up with the guy.”

“What do you mean?” Ford asked in cop tone. A police officer in Casper, Ford didn’t let anything escape his attention.

“Well, Noah can probably attest to how odd it is that a guest would book a cabin for four and then show up solo and not partake in a single activity at a dude ranch,” Daisy explained. “I’ve only seen him walking the grounds. In fact, any time I’ve been out, I feel like he’s been around. And then he’s suddenly five minutes behind me on the service road to the freeway?”

Noah narrowed his eyes. “You know, now that you mention it, he does seem unusual. He wasn’t interested in being matched with a horse. And twice I’ve looked up while in the barn or talking to the ranch hands, and there’d he’d be, suddenly pulling out his phone like he had to make a call that second.”

“Sounds like he’s watching you two,” Axel said. A search-and-rescue expert, Axel wasn’t one to believe in coincidence.

Daisy shrugged. “He did help me, though. And then came to visit me and Tony. He brought this,” she added, pointing at the teddy bear. “I told him I wanted to give Tony his middle initial, and he turned white. Said he didn’t have a middle name and made excuses to leave.”

Rex, the businessman of the brothers, crossed his arms over his chest. “Hmm. Something is definitely up with him. But like you said, he did come to your rescue. You and Tony are safe and healthy.”

Noah nodded. “That’s all that matters right now.”

“Couldn’t hurt to check him out,” Zeke said. This from the mysterious brother. Zeke had long refused to talk about his work and would only say it was highly classified, whatever that meant. Sometimes Daisy thought he was a spy.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Ford said, taking out his phone. “What’s the guest’s name? I’ll start with a simple check on the guy. Just to be safe.”

“Harrison McCord,” Daisy told him. “Wyoming plates. Silver Lexus.”

“Harrison McCord,” Rex repeated, clearly thinking. “That name does sound familiar. I’ve heard it before. In business circles, I think.” Rex lived out in Jackson, Wyoming, which was hours away from Bear Ridge.

Ford nodded and stepped out of the room, phone in hand. It was good having a cop in the family.

“I’ll keep an eye on McCord,” Axel said. “Turns out I’ll be staying for a week or two. I’m on enforced R&R from my search-and-rescue team.”

All eyes turned to Axel. He rarely said so much about his private life. She wondered what had happened to get him sent on “vacation.”

“I’d like to stay at the main house with you, Daize,” Axel added, “if you’d like the company.”

She beamed. She’d be able to work on keeping Axel in town forever! She almost wanted to add a mock-evil mwahaha, she was so happy about the news. “I’d love it. But you’ll be woken up all hours of the night by a shrieking newborn. Just pointing it out if it didn’t occur to you.”

Axel stared at the creature in her arms, his blue eyes widening slightly as he ran a hand through his thick dark brown hair. “Not like I’ll be getting any sleep anyway, so bring it on, little nephew.”

Daisy laughed, but as she glanced at Axel, she could see something was eating at him—something about the enforced vacation and whatever had gone down there. He could probably use a little distraction, right? She would put her matchmaking plan into action. Within two weeks, he’d never want to leave anyway, because he’d be too in love. With the woman she had in mind for him and with his darling baby nephew, who’d be the apple of his ole eye. He’d sign on with a new search-and-rescue team much closer to Bear Ridge and build a big, gorgeous modern log cabin on the edge of the ranch property. That was the dream—having all her brothers back home.

Yes, Daisy was feeling better about knowing three of her brothers would be leaving later today or in the morning. Because Noah was here, of course. And now Axel would be, too.

“The baby looks just like you,” her sister-in-law, Sara, said, her eyes misty. “I can’t wait to introduce him to his little cousins. Cowboy Joe is watching them right now.”

Daisy smiled. Cowboy Joe was the grizzled sixty-two-year-old cook at the guest ranch cafeteria. He adored babies.

Noah put his arm around his wife, and they gazed at the baby. “Welcome to the family, Tony Lincoln Dawson,” he said to his nephew. “You’re gonna be spoiled rotten.”

Daisy grinned. She felt so lucky that her baby would have five incredible uncles, one amazing aunt and two instant baby cousins. Sara had five-month-old twins, Annabel and Chance. Sara’s husband had died just a couple months after she’d given birth to twins, only one of whom had survived—supposedly. Within a half hour of the birth, Sara’s twisted husband had actually left frail newborn Annabel on Noah Dawson’s doorstep after telling Sara the girl twin had died. But the truth had come out seven weeks later, and Sara and her daughter had been reunited. Noah, who for all that time had taken care of Annabel on his own, thinking she was his baby—per the false, anonymous note left with her—had never looked so happy than on his wedding day, when he, Sara and the twins became a forever family.

Ford stepped back in the room, pocketing his phone. “Harrison McCord is a successful businessman—mergers and acquisitions—in Prairie City. Owns his own firm. Clean record. On local charitable boards. Highly regarded. From basic reports, a top-notch guy.”

“Well, he did deliver Tony and ruin a really expensive-looking dress shirt,” Daisy said with a grin. “So that’s not a total surprise.”

“He lied about not having a middle name, by the way,” Ford added. “It’s Leo.”

“L for Leo!” Daisy said. “Turns out Harrison Leo McCord got a piece of the middle-name honoring whether he liked it or not.”

“Probably just didn’t want a fuss made over what he did,” Rex said. “Likely he doesn’t think he did anything anyone else wouldn’t have done.”

Except Harrison was the only person around. And he had come to her rescue. So that was all she knew.

“Still worth keeping an eye on,” Axel put in, and Daisy caught Ford and Noah nodding.

She wondered what was behind Harrison’s mysterious behavior. Still, when a nurse came in to check her vitals and bring Tony to the nursery, she forced herself to stop thinking about her impromptu birth partner so she could catch a much-needed nap. But between wishing she could have Tony back in her arms and wondering about Harrison McCord, she was wide-awake.

With visiting hours at the Gentle Winds hospice about to end, Harrison sat at the bedside of ninety-four-year-old Mo Burns, an over-bed table between them holding a deck of cards, Mo’s favorite candy—sour jelly beans—and a full house. Mo had beaten Harrison at poker again.

“Gotcha, kid,” Mo exclaimed in his whispery voice, his filmy blue eyes beaming with pride.

Harrison had been volunteering at Gentle Winds, where his aunt was a patient just down the hall, ever since Lolly McCord had moved in ten days ago. Lolly had stage-four cancer, caught too late to do anything, and she was often very tired. Harrison liked to be close by to his only relative, so he’d asked about volunteering, and every day, before or after he visited his aunt, he’d spend an hour or so with a few different patients, reading to them, talking sports, playing cards and often just listening to a lifetime of memories. Eighty-eight-year-old Clyde Monroe liked to talk politics, so Harrison read to him from the Converse County Gazette about national and local happenings. Danielle Panowsky loved reading true-crime books but couldn’t see the tiny type anymore and couldn’t stand e-readers or earphones, so Harrison found her a few great crime podcasts they could listen to together. And Mo liked poker and winning, so Harrison mostly let the sweet man win. But today, Harrison hadn’t even had to ignore his good cards. His mind was not on the game.

“How’s your aunt feeling today?” Mo asked, picking up his cards.

“Lolly was sleeping when I arrived. I’ll check in on her in a little while.”

Mo nodded. “You’re a good nephew. I’ve got so many nieces and nephews and grands and great-grands I can’t keep their names straight, but I love when they come see their old great-uncle Moey. They always bring me my favorite beef jerky. I can’t chew it, but I love the smell of it.”

Harrison laughed. He adored Mo. And he’d met quite a few of Mo’s boisterous, large clan, a few always popping in every day. Harrison had figured he’d be paired with patients who didn’t get many visitors, but he was assigned to anyone who’d filled out a form requesting volunteer visitors—or their families had. For Mo, the more the merrier.

Harrison’s aunt Lolly wasn’t the type to want someone sitting in the chair beside her and reading from Anne of Green Gables, her favorite novel. Lolly had always been private and a keep-to-herself kind of person. Harrison was a little too much like that, but he was working on it. He’d lost his father a couple weeks ago, and when the grief had grabbed him particularly hard one night and he’d gone for a drive and passed a health club, he’d gone in, signed up for membership, and taken out his frustrations on the treadmill and punching bag and weights, and he’d felt a lot better when he’d left. It was also good to be around people who didn’t know him, unlike at work, where the looks of sympathy over his dad had gotten hard instead of comforting.

“You seem upset to me, buddy boy,” Mo said. “Spill the beans. Back in the day, people told me all their troubles. I shoulda charged ten bucks a trouble.”

Harrison smiled. “I’m all right.” Sort of. Except for losing my dad. And now having to say this hard goodbye to my aunt. And then there was the matter of Daisy Dawson.

All the Dawsons, really. But particularly her now.

“Guess what?” Harrison said. “I helped deliver a baby on the side of the road earlier today.” He felt himself smiling, the marvel coming into his face. “Isn’t that something? A boy.”

He thought of Daisy’s big blue eyes. Little Tony wrapped in Harrison’s shirt. Daisy wanting to give Tony his middle initial as a way to thank him.

He’d practically run out of her room after that. But he’d have to face her tomorrow. With some news she wasn’t going to like.

“I did that once,” Mo said, his eyes lighting up. “Hand to God. Lady went into labor right in front of me while I was showing a house. Did I tell you I used to be a real estate agent? It was just the two of us, and wham, the baby was coming. The ambulance got there a minute after I helped deliver the baby. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”

Harrison stared at him. “Are you serious? That just happened to me. How can it be this common?”

“Hey, we’re a couple of uncommon dudes,” Mo said. “Baby was a girl and squawking her head off.”

Harrison laughed. “So what happened?”

“Well, a couple days later, the lady’s husband came to see me and tried to give me a hundred bucks and a cigar. I took the cigar and told him it was something anyone would do. But I’ll tell you, I did feel like a hero. I told that story for months until my brother told me to shut up already.”

Harrison smiled. “I felt like a hero, too.” But then his smile faded as he realized he was the opposite of a hero. He’d helped bring little Tony Dawson into the world—but was about to take something away from Daisy.

Her family ranch.

Which was really his family’s ranch.

How the hell was he going to tell her?

Every time he thought, Why did I have to be at the right place at the right time, he’d then realize—thank God I was. He couldn’t imagine that beautiful woman, so full of life, literally, giving birth alone on a stretch of rural road. Yes, getting rather intimate with Daisy Dawson had thrown a monkey wrench into things, but he’d come to the Dawson Family Guest Ranch to right a wrong, and he would. Whether he’d delivered Daisy’s baby or not. Whether he felt a connection to her—and that tiny baby—or not.

That’s neither here nor there, he forced himself to think, recalling his father’s favorite line when someone would try to inject emotion into business. Business was business. Signed documents mattered. The Dawson Family Guest Ranch was rightfully his father’s property, and now his. And he’d get it back in the name of his father.

And for Lolly—there was a long story there that he didn’t want to think about. Not with his aunt five doors down, barely able to consume even clear soups in the past couple of days. He had a lifetime of wonderful memories of family holidays and special celebrations with his dad and Lolly, and he’d hold on to those.

Mo’s eyes started to flutter closed, so Harrison packed up the cards and moved the table and jelly beans. He patted sweet Mo’s hand.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, friend,” he told Mo.

Daisy had mentioned she’d be getting discharged tomorrow afternoon. Harrison would stop by the main house at the ranch in the early evening and explain the situation. Who he really was. Why he was there. What the law said. He felt terrible about it, given the new circumstances, but he had to stop seeing Tony Dawson’s little fingers and button nose and bow lips—and Daisy Dawson’s big blue eyes, so full of thank you that he couldn’t bear it.

You’re righting a wrong, he reminded himself. Just focus on that. Do what you have to do and leave and you’ll never have to see those big blue eyes again. He’d never stop thinking about them, though.

How in the world was he going to tell Daisy he was taking away her home and family business?

Tony’s home and family business? A beautiful newborn he’d helped deliver.

Suddenly, that’s neither here nor there wasn’t working for him. Not one bit.

Chapter Three

“So I brought you some stuff you’ll really need,” Sara said with a smile, plopping into the chair beside Daisy’s hospital bed. She had a big red tote bag on her lap.

Daisy grinned and sat up, baby Tony sleeping nestled against her chest. The Dawson crew had left a few hours ago, and since visiting hours were ending in about a half hour, Daisy hadn’t expected to see any of them until tomorrow, when Noah and Sara would come pick up her and Tony to bring them home. She should have known her BFF would be back.

Sara pulled out three books. “Okay, you might not exactly have time to read. But if you do, you’ll want these. One,” she said, holding up a hardcover with “New York Times bestseller” atop it. “Motherhood for Total Beginners: Your Guide to Fusspots, Colicky Screamers, Nonnappers, Binky-Spitter-Outters, Diaper Rash and a Total Lack of Help.”

Daisy laughed. “That last bit clinches it as definitely the read for me, since I’ll be on my own.” A second ago she’d been smiling, but the moment the words were out of her mouth, she frowned, that vague fear that sometimes gripped her now hanging on tight. She’d expected to be coparenting. With a husband, her baby’s father. Instead, she’d be a single mother. Alone, alone, alone.

“Hey,” Sara said, giving Daisy’s hand a squeeze. “You’ve got me 24/7 a quarter mile away. Even if I’m in the middle of breaking up an argument between the goats or dealing with a guest issue, I’ll come running. You know that, right? So will Noah.”

She did know that. And she loved Sara and Noah for it. Having her family’s support made everything about single motherhood a lot less scary. “I don’t know what I’d do without you two.”

Sara smiled and held up the next book. “Your Baby’s Development by Month,” she read. “This one is a little more boring but very informative. My own copy is already full of Post-its. Basically what to expect. Don’t read ahead or you might get scared. Teething?” Sara mock shivered. “That’s next for us.” She held up the third book, a hardcover with pretty illustrations on the front. “This one is a baby book.” She flipped a few pages. There were pages to write down baby’s first word, laugh, step. “Every time Tony has a first, you can record it, and there are spaces for accompanying photos. Annabel’s and Chance’s baby books are full of blurry shots of them having their first spoonfuls of pureed peaches.”

Daisy laughed. “I love these, Sara. And thank you.”

Sara reached into the bag and pulled out a huge bag of lemon drops, which were Daisy’s favorite candy, and waved it. “Also in here? Everything a new mother needs—from nipple cream to a sitz bath to Extra-Strength Tylenol to this coupon indicating that Noah and I hired a cleaning service to come every other week for a few months.”

Daisy’s eyes misted. “I could not love you more.”

“Hey, that’s what besties are for. Plus you’re lucky that I’m also your sister-in-law, so you get the BFF love and the family treatment.”

“Thank you, Sara. Seriously.” She bit her lip and eyed the scary stuff in the tote bag. She’d read about those items but had forced them from her mind, so she hadn’t bought them. She was grateful to know she’d have them stored in the bathroom when she’d need them. “I wonder what it’ll be like, being home with him on my own. Doing this alone. I mean, I know I have you and Noah. But there’s no dad, Sara. You went through that. I know you know it’s scary.”

“It is scary,” Sara said. “But just like I knew I’d be all right, you know you’ll be all right. You do what you gotta do. You accept support. You say yes to every offer of help. You ask for help when you need it. You learn on the job. And the job is everything, Daize—motherhood. And motherhood is truly instinctive. The incredible love you feel for Tony, that love you’ve never felt before in your entire life before you held him? That guides everything. Everything else you look up in these books or google it. Like sudden bumpy rashes on Tony’s chest or a barking cough.”

Daisy felt instantly better. Yeah—Sara was right. Daisy had felt an instinctive burst of love, protectiveness, commitment, everything the moment Harrison McCord had placed her newborn baby boy on her chest. She’d be a good mother—she knew she would be. And for all the scary stuff that would come up, she’d ask Sara, who had several months of experience on her, or she’d hit the laptop.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Gimme a lemon drop.”

Sara grinned and handed over the bag, two pounds’ worth and tied with a red wire bow. A few minutes later, a nurse popped her head in and pointed at her watch. Visiting hours were over for the day. Sara gathered her stuff, assured Daisy she and Noah would be back tomorrow afternoon to bring her and Tony home to the ranch, and then it was just Daisy and her newborn.

Daisy was going to be just fine. She and baby Tony were a team, a family. And she had a big support system. Maybe even a new friend, the mystery man guest in Cabin No. 1 who’d helped bring Tony into the world. She wondered why he’d left so suddenly earlier. Maybe the idea of giving Tony his middle initial was overwhelming for him. After all, he was practically a stranger.

A stranger who’d shared the most intimate, most beautiful event of her life with her.

Hopefully he wasn’t expecting his fancy blue dress shirt back. Daisy had a feeling he’d be happy never to see it again. But she would have it cleaned and save it for always. She’d never forget what Harrison McCord had done for her.

“I do wonder what our rescuer is up to,” she said to a still-sleeping Tony. “Maybe he just likes coming to dude ranches, staying alone in a cabin meant for four and not partaking in a single activity.” She smiled. “That’s the thing, Tone. Could be any reason. A million reasons. Maybe he recently lost his parents and they took him to a guest ranch as a kid and he wanted to soak up the memories. Maybe they even took him to the Dawson ranch. You know, I’ll bet it’s something like that.”

Tony’s eyes fluttered open as if he agreed.

“I love you, Tony bear. I might be your only parent, but I promise you I’ll do the best job I possibly can. We’ve got this.”

Tony’s eyes closed again as if he also agreed with that, as if he felt one hundred percent safe with his single mother. Daisy’s heart almost burst with happiness and relief.

Late the next afternoon, Daisy stood in the farmhouse nursery with Noah and Sara and gasped as she looked around. She gently put down Tony’s infant carrier and unbuckled him, carefully cradling him along her arm as she stepped around the room. The nursery sure looked different than it had a day and a half ago. She’d had the basics of the room set up for a couple months now—the crib, the dresser with its changing pad, the glider—all gifts from Noah a few days after she’d told him she was pregnant. But now there were surprises everywhere. In one corner was an adorable plush child’s chair in the shape of a teddy bear for Tony to grow into. And someone had stenciled the wall facing the crib with the moon and stars. Tony’s name was also stenciled on his crib, which was Sara’s handiwork. And there were stacks of gifts in one corner that she knew were baby clothes and blankets and burp cloths. She wouldn’t have to buy anything for Tony for a long time.

“Ford and Rex did the moon and stars,” Noah said. “For novice stencilers who had to read the instructions twice and watch a tutorial, they did a great job.”

“And Zeke and Axel hit up BabyLand and bought that adorable polka-dot rug and the yellow floor lamp,” Sara added. “I didn’t even go with them to make sure they didn’t buy anything weird or clashing, and what they picked out is absolutely perfect.”

The room was so cozy and sweet. “You guys are going to make me cry,” Daisy managed to say around the lump in her throat as she surveyed the nursery. She used her free hand to swipe under her eyes.

She couldn’t say she and her brothers were close—well, except for Noah these days—but they were always there for her. And they’d all been there to meet Tony the day he was born. That was the one lucky thing to come out of her nonwedding—her whole family had already been at the ranch.

This place had always held bad memories for all the siblings, but after inheriting the ranch from their father, they’d all invested in rebuilding and renovating and reopening the Dawson Family Guest Ranch. Noah had done the lion’s share on his own; Daisy had been too pregnant to help much when she’d arrived a few months ago, and the four other Dawsons couldn’t get away from the ranch fast enough.

Ford had once said hell would freeze over before he’d come back here, a sentiment shared by the other three brothers as well, but Ford, Rex, Axel and Zeke had surprised Noah and Daisy at the grand opening this past Memorial Day weekend. And now Axel was staying at the ranch for a bit. That meant three out of six Dawsons at the ranch at the same time. It was a start. And Daisy was going to run with it.

The Dawson Family Guest Ranch was a completely different place than it had been, beautifully renovated as a modern-rustic dude ranch in the Wyoming wilderness, and being here didn’t whip up bad memories for the brothers as they’d expected because of the changes. They still didn’t want to be here, though. But it was a good sign that they’d come visit, and Daisy could put her master plan into work on them: finding them love so they’d stay. The thought of having all Tony’s uncles in his life on a regular basis, not just a visit at major holidays, made her so happy she could burst. She just had to change their minds about the place in general. Noah had done such a good job with the renovations that the ranch didn’t remind them of home anymore at all. A good thing and a bad thing.

Noah grinned. “There’s more in the living room. A baby swing that plays five different lullabies. A huge basket set up with everything you might need while you’re downstairs, from diapers and wipes to pacifiers to burp cloths and a change of clothes. The six-foot-tall giraffe in the corner is from Rex—he had to head home on some emergency business at work.”

She smiled at the giant giraffe. “He called me this morning to say goodbye. Ford and Zeke, too.”

“Axel is doing my rounds for me,” Noah added. “He called me while riding fence and said he took to the routine immediately, remembered everything he’d learned as a kid. It’s good to have him back, even just temporarily.”

Daisy nodded. It sure was. She did wonder what had gone down to cause Axel’s enforced R&R from his search-and-rescue team. He worked primarily in Badger Mountain State Park, about a half hour away, where Daisy herself had once gotten lost on a typically disastrous family trip. He’d tell her and Noah when he was ready, if he ever was. Axel was pretty private. In the meantime, she would distract him with just the right possible romantic interest. She had someone in mind already—two someones, actually, both of whom had been guests at her nonwedding.

She looked around the nursery, her heart bursting. “I love you guys,” she said, her eyes misting. She gazed down at Tony, napping away, his bow lips quirking. Her family hadn’t let her feel like she’d lost anything with Jacob’s abandonment. And last night, during the times she’d actually been alone in the hospital without a nurse in her room for this or that reason, she’d only had to look at Tony or think about him if he were in the nursery, and she felt so filled up it was insane.

“Hungry?” Sara asked. “I stocked your fridge and freezer with all your favorites. You won’t need to go grocery shopping till Christmas.”

She wrapped her sister-in-law in a one-arm hug. “You’re the best.” She turned to her siblings. “You’re all the best. Thank you for everything. You’ve outdone yourself. Now go to work. I’ve got this. I’m just gonna revel in being home and not in the hospital. Since Tony’s napping, I’ll try to also.”

There were hugs, and then Daisy was alone in the house. For months she’d decorated this nursery, bursting with excitement for the day she’d come home with her baby. And here that day was. Between that and the way her family had rallied around her, she really did feel filled up.

She certainly hadn’t expected the house would still be so quiet, given the baby, who was now in the crib. He’d transferred without a peep. May it always be so easy, she thought with a grin, knowing that would never be the case. She stood looking at him, his chest rising and falling, one little arm up by his ear in a fist. Welcome home, my sweet Tony bear. She could barely drag herself away, but she was yawning herself and realized she’d better squeeze in that nap.

She had a monitor set up on her bedside table and cranked it up, then slid into bed with a satisfied ahhh. She did sleep for about twenty minutes and woke up kind of groggy and out of it. Tony was still magically sleeping, so she headed downstairs for a cup of coffee, and even though it was decaf, the brew faked her brain into waking up. She responded to texts from her family, who sent her the photos of Tony and her they’d taken that morning, and then the crying began.

Ridiculously thrilled, Daisy raced from the kitchen upstairs into the nursery and scooped up her son and brought him over to the glider to nurse him. When he was finished, she stood up and gave him gentle pats until he burped, and then she changed him, marveling at how beautiful he was. She was a bundle of nerves about whether she was doing everything the right way, but Tony seemed content, so that had to be the guidepost. “How about the grand tour?” she asked. “Did you know I grew up in this house?”

The doorbell rang. The grand tour would have to wait. She wondered who could be visiting, though. Her brothers or Sara would text her before just ringing the bell. And guests of the ranch were always informed upon arrival that the farmhouse on the hill was the family home. With Tony nestled securely in her arms, she walked very carefully downstairs and headed to the door.

She pulled back the filmy white curtain at the door. Harrison McCord.

What was he doing here?

Top-notch or not, and holding another gift for Tony or not—this time a long, floppy yellow bunny—and very attractive or not, with his tousle of dirty-blond hair and green eyes, he was hiding something. Daisy had no idea if it was something completely innocuous, but he was definitely hiding something. He seemed too...intense at the moment not to be.

“I’m sorry for just dropping by,” Harrison said. “But I do need to talk to you. And to your brother, the foreman, as well.”

Okay, this was unexpected. What was going on?

She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes at him and then at the manila envelope he held in his other hand. He wanted to talk to them both? “I was the guest relations manager until just last week, so I’m your guy—gal—” She grimaced. “I’m a good contact if you’re having any issues with your stay, is what I mean.”

“It’s nothing like that,” he said. “I’d really like to talk to you both—together.”

Hmm. What was this about? “Well, Noah is pretty busy right at the moment. He was here a couple hours ago, but he just texted me he’s dealing with our runaway goat, Hermione. Treated like gold but takes off every chance she gets.”

He attempted a half smile, but it was so awkward that an alarm bell went off. Something was wrong here.

“Can I come in?” he asked, practically strangling the yellow bunny, whose head and long ears were sticking out of the small gift bag in his left hand.

Daisy reluctantly stepped aside, and he walked in. She closed the screen door behind her.

“Let’s go sit in the living room. I have decaf coffee, lemonade, tomato juice, orange juice, cranberry juice. I like juice, obviously,” she added, then rolled her eyes at herself for rambling out of sheer nerves.

“Cranberry juice sounds good,” he said. “But let me get it. You’ve got Tony.”

“I’ll put him in the bassinet,” she said, carefully lowering the baby down.

She noticed Harrison staring at Tony, his expression...what? Like a mix of apology and resolve. Just what did he have to talk to her about? Something that also concerned Noah.

She gestured at the gray sectional, and he sat down on one end, looking around the room. The stone fireplace with all the photos, particularly. He got up and walked over to them. He looked at one in particular, of her grandparents standing in front of the big banner on the gates of the Dawson Family Guest Ranch. “Opening day fifty-two years ago,” he read from the banner. He then picked up the next photo. It was of the Dawson siblings in the same spot, Memorial Day weekend—similar banner, but this one said Grand Reopening. “Opening day two months ago,” he added, putting the photo back.

“Noah really did wonders with the place,” she said. “I came back only a couple months before we reopened. This was really his baby. But it became my refuge when I had nowhere else to go when Jacob dumped me the first time around, back when I lived in Cheyenne.” Oh cripes, she thought, embarrassed she’d said all that. “Hormones. Making me spill my guts like a crazy person.”

He stared at her as if taking in everything she’d said. “I didn’t realize Tony’s father had a second chance. That makes it even worse.”

Didn’t she know it. “I usually abide by the ‘once burned, twice shy’ saying. But I wanted to try for the baby’s sake.” Why was she telling this man her personal life details? He was here to talk to her about something...serious, from the looks of him. Get his cranberry juice and let him get on with it.

“I’ll be right back. You’ll keep an eye on Tony?” she asked.

His eyes widened just enough for her to catch it. He was either surprised she’d ask him such a thing because he’d never been around babies much, or he was about to spring some bad news on her, like that he’d burned down his cabin or something. “Uh, okay,” he said, shifting a bit closer to the edge of the sofa where Tony lay in his bassinet.

She came back with two glasses of cranberry juice and a plate of Cowboy Joe’s coconut fudge cookies, which he’d sent to the main house this morning with Noah. Cowboy Joe had a big enough workload, but he’d kept her cravings satisfied with his delicious homemade fare and snacks. Sometimes treats she didn’t even know she wanted until there they were, on a plate, beckoning her. She wasn’t pregnant anymore, but she craved these cookies big-time.

She sat down across from the sofa on the love seat, where she could directly see Harrison and the baby. “So what’s this about?” she asked. “Is something wrong? Are you leaving us a terrible review on TripAdvisor or something?”

He seemed so caught off guard that he smiled for a second, but then it faded. “I’m just going to come right out with this, Daisy. The Dawson Family Guest Ranch doesn’t rightfully belong to your family. It belongs to mine.”

She stared at him. “What on earth are you talking about? How could this place possibly belong to your family?”

“Your father, Bo Dawson, signed over ownership of the ranch to my father ten years ago.” He reached for the manila envelope he’d settled on his lap, opened it and pulled out a folded, yellowing square napkin, the kind servers set down on your table before plunking your beer on top of it. “The proof,” he said and reached over the coffee table to hand the napkin to her.

What the hell is this? she wondered, taking the napkin. Staring back at her was her father’s unmistakable scrawl in black pen. It was dated June 15 ten years ago. I lost the bet and transfer ownership of the Dawson Family Guest Ranch to Eric McCord.

Daisy gasped. Her father had bet the ranch?

“This is some drunken bar thing,” she said. “It wouldn’t hold up in a court of law.” She eyed the napkin again, her stomach churning suddenly, and handed it back to him, wanting it away from her as quickly as possible. Her father had drunk way too much, particularly the last couple of years before his death. She had no doubt he was five sheets to the wind when he’d bet the ranch. And left signed proof.

“I’ve consulted two attorneys who assure me it will hold up,” Harrison said, so seriously that she sat straight up.

Daisy lifted her chin. “I think I should get my brothers over here before we say more. They should be in this conversation. Only Noah and Axel are still here. Ford, Rex and Zeke left early this morning.”

Harrison nodded.

She stared at him, half scared, half hating his guts, and then grabbed her phone off the coffee table. She texted Noah.

Emergency. Harrison McCord says the ranch is his family’s, that Dad signed it over. Has napkin proof. He’s in the farmhouse. Find Axel and hurry!

Be right there. Texting Axel, Noah responded.

Daisy sat still as a board, hands in her lap, clasping and unclasping. Harrison did the same. They looked everywhere but at each other.

A few minutes later, Noah stormed in, Axel right behind him. Harrison stood up, the envelope in his hand.

“What the hell is this?” Noah said. “Napkin proof? What?”

Harrison gave the envelope to Noah, who opened it and pulled out the napkin. Daisy waited for shock to register and his muscles to bunch, and that’s exactly what happened.

“This won’t hold up in court,” Noah said, passing the napkin to Axel. “Clearly drunken nonsense.”

Daisy shivered, despite the eighty-one-degree temperature. “I said the same thing. He said two attorneys assured him it would.”

“What’s the story behind this?” Axel asked Harrison after reading the napkin for himself and putting it back in the envelope.

Harrison practically snatched back the envelope and held on to it.

“Let’s all sit,” Daisy said.

They sat, not taking their eyes off Harrison McCord.

Harrison picked up his cranberry juice, which Daisy now wanted to pour over his head. How dare he drink her juice after threatening to take away their family business? She watched him take a long sip.

“On his deathbed two weeks ago, my father told me that ten years ago, he got into a fight with a Bo Dawson to defend the honor of his sister, my aunt Lolly, who Bo was three-timing. Bo apparently said that his face was too good-looking to risk getting rearranged and he’d challenge my dad to a poker game. If my dad won, then he could beat Bo to pulp. But if Bo won, my dad would have to leave him be forever.”

Oh Lord. That did sound like her father. “Where does the napkin come in?”

“At the bar where they were going to play in a back room, Bo started flirting like crazy with the waitress, who wore a wedding ring. My dad got even angrier at how Bo used and abused people that he demanded Bo up the stakes or he’d bash his face in right there. Because Bo had pissed off most guys around, no one was going to come to his rescue.”

“So our dad bet his ranch?” Noah asked. “The family ranch his parents built from nothing? No way.”

“Your father told my dad he owned his family’s very popular dude ranch in Bear Ridge. My dad had heard of the place, so he said fine, put it in writing and we’ll play for it. Your dad did.” He held up the envelope.”

“And our dad lost,” Axel finished, shaking his head.

Harrison nodded. “The ranch, therefore, belongs to my family.”

“Now, wait a minute,” Daisy snapped, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “It most certainly does not! A drunkenly scrawled napkin from ten years ago? Your own father could have written that. My dad never mentioned a lost bet and signing over the ranch. That napkin isn’t proof of anything.”

“Except it’s your dad’s handwriting,” Harrison said. “I did some investigating.”

Daisy gasped. “How dare you! Lurking around, spying on our history.”

Noah and Axel both dropped down hard on chairs with pent-up breaths.

“It’s not personal,” Harrison said. “It’s just business. And this is the business I’m in. Mergers and acquisitions. Your father signed over ownership, but when my dad discovered the place was a falling-down mess, he didn’t collect. I’m here to do just that.”

Steam was coming out of Daisy’s ears. “Oh, right, suddenly after Noah rebuilds the place and it opens to rave reviews! If you think you’re taking the Dawson Family Guest Ranch from us, you have another think coming, mister.” She stuck her arm out, finger pointing at the front door. “Get out of my house!”

Harrison had the gall to look hurt. “I just found out about the bet and the napkin a couple weeks ago when my father died. My aunt Lolly rarely talks about her private life, but my father filled me in on how Bo destroyed her faith in men and love and romance. She never dated again after the way he treated her. She just gave up. Now she’s dying in a hospice in Prairie City all alone.”

For a moment, all Daisy heard was that his father had passed away two weeks ago and now his aunt was dying alone in Prairie City, which was the big town that bordered Bear Ridge. Daisy had lost her mom young and her dad last Christmas. Her heart went out to him. Until she remembered why he was here.

“I’m sorry about the loss of your dad,” she said. “And about your aunt. But the Dawson Family Guest Ranch belongs to us.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m sorry, too, but again, a deal is a deal,” Harrison said. “The ranch belongs to the McCords in my father’s and aunt’s dual honor. So I will see you in court.”

Daisy gasped. He was taking them to court? He couldn’t be serious!

“I’d like you to leave,” she shouted, causing Tony’s eyes to slowly open. The baby scrunched up his face and let out a cry.

Harrison eyed Tony, then lit out of the house fast.

“And take your stupid bunny with you,” Daisy yelped, throwing it after him.

It landed in front of the door that Harrison had just closed behind him.

“Tell me that idiotic napkin won’t hold up in court,” Daisy said, looking between Noah and Axel.

Her brothers looked at each other, then at her.

“It very well could,” Noah said. “Social gambling is legal here—in private homes and bars. The napkin is dated, very clear in content and signed.”

Axel sighed. “We’ll get our own lawyer. We’ll fight this with everything we’ve got.”

Damn right, they would. This ranch was their legacy. Their children’s future. No one was taking it away.

She looked at Tony. Tony Lincoln Dawson. Just yesterday she’d been tickled to discover that Harrison’s middle name started with L and that she’d chosen a middle name with that initial. Well, from here on in, that L only stood for her mother’s name, Leah. Harrison and his middle name could go jump in a lake.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.