A Family for a Week

by Melissa Senate

  Single mom Sadie Winston can’t be falling for her fake fiancé!

  When Sadie’s elderly great-grandmother mistakes Sadie and Axel Dawson for a happily engaged couple, they decide to keep up a weeklong ruse. The handsome, rugged ranger is now playing future daddy to her toddler son...and loving fiancé to her. Now if only she can convince Axel to open his guarded heart and join her family for real...

  Axel moved closer to her to leave the room—so that Danny could sleep in peace—but Sadie was right there, in the doorway, and suddenly they were kissing again.

  “Why can’t I keep my hands off you?” she whispered against his lips, pressed up tantalizingly against him.

  “Feel free not to,” he said, then regretted it. Even if he was attracted to her on a bunch of levels—okay, all—he wasn’t getting emotionally attached.

  She seemed to sense his withdrawal despite his not moving a muscle. “Maybe we should save the making out for when my family is around,” she said, and he heard the element of disappointment in her voice. He was getting to know her a little too well. “You know, to make the engagement seem real. We were supposed to talk about that and never did. But now I’m zonked,” she said, fake yawning again and backing toward her room. “So, see you in the morning.”

  She hurried down the hall, and her door closed a second later.

  He could knock and they could talk, really talk. But his feet were suddenly weighted to the floor, and Sadie had fled for a reason. He should let her be.

  Wasn’t getting emotionally attached. Even he knew when he was full of it.

  DAWSON FAMILY RANCH: Life, love, legacy in Wyoming.

  Dear Reader,

  Ah, family reunions. The big, loud, loving Winston clan descends on the Dawson Family Guest Ranch for their annual weeklong family reunion in honor of Axel Dawson rescuing Sadie Winston’s toddler son when he went missing recently. Axel is the new Winston family hero—and little Danny’s.

  Sadie was so grateful that Axel, a former search-and-rescue operative, found her missing son that she, too, fell a little bit in love with him the day he put her boy back in her arms on a Wyoming mountain. But she knows Axel Dawson is a confirmed bachelor who doesn’t do love or commitment. Yet when her sister gets engaged during the reunion, and Sadie’s ninety-nine-year-old great-grandmother mistakes Sadie for the bride and Axel for the groom, suddenly, the unlikely couple is pretending to be planning a wedding. Lots of surprises and love are in store for the Winstons and the Dawsons this week...

  I hope you enjoy Sadie and Axel’s story. Feel free to write me with any comments or questions at MelissaSenate@yahoo.com and visit my website, melissasenate.com for more info about me and my books. For lots of photos of my cat and dog, friend me over on Facebook.

  Happy summer and happy reading!

  Warmest regards,

  Melissa Senate

  A Family for a Week

  Melissa Senate

  Melissa Senate has written many novels for Harlequin and other publishers, including her debut, See Jane Date, which was made into a TV movie. She also wrote seven books for Harlequin’s Special Edition line under the pen name Meg Maxwell. Her novels have been published in over twenty-five 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.

  Books by Melissa Senate

  Harlequin Special Edition

  Dawson Family Ranch

  For the Twins’ Sake

  Wyoming Special Delivery

  The Wyoming Multiples

  The Baby Switch!

  Detective Barelli’s Legendary Triplets

  Wyoming Christmas Surprise

  To Keep Her Baby

  A Promise for the Twins

  A Wyoming Christmas to Remember

  Montana Mavericks: Six Brides for Six Brothers

  Rust Creek Falls Cinderella

  Montana Mavericks: The Lonelyhearts Ranch

  The Maverick’s Baby-in-Waiting

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  For my sister.

  Contents

  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

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from His Plan for the Quintuplets by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Chapter One

  Holding her twenty-seven-month-old son against one hip, single mom Sadie Winston—and thirty-eight of her relatives—walked around the outdoor petting zoo at the Dawson Family Guest Ranch. Little Danny stared wide-eyed at the goats jumping on and off a short log in the hay-strewn pen. One with bristly black fur came over to sniff Danny’s sneaker. “’Oat, ’oat!” her son shouted with a giggle.

  The whole clan had arrived a few minutes ago for their annual family reunion, the barn their first stop after check-in. As Danny laughed and pointed at the goats, Sadie looked in every direction—ever so casually, she hoped—for a certain tall, black-haired, blue-eyed man named Axel Dawson. He and his siblings owned the guest ranch, and she’d heard he lived on the property now. She didn’t see him anywhere, and Axel Dawson would be impossible to miss.

  “’Oat, Mama!” Danny said again, pointing at a white goat chewing on a piece of hay. Sadie set Danny down, smiling as the goat came over to nudge his hand for a pat or a treat. “’Oat, ’oat!”

  She kneeled behind Danny and wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the baby-shampoo scent of his blond hair. She closed her eyes for a second, grateful. She’d almost lost him once. She had lost him—for over two hours. That she had him back was the whole reason her mother and aunt—reunion organizers for decades—had chosen to hold the event at the Dawson ranch. As a very expensive but priceless thank-you.

  Three months ago, on a beautiful May afternoon, Danny had gone missing during a family outing on a small mountain in Badger Tree National Park. One minute, he’d been right there, toddling between her aunt and mother as they all ambled and chatted their way up the easy incline to a wide expanse of forest where they’d planned to stop for a picnic.

  Sadie had been deep in conversation with Daphne, her pregnant cousin who was full of questions about impending motherhood, when she’d heard her mom say, “Where’s Danny?” A second later, “Danny? Where are you, sweetie?” The four women had looked at each other, each expecting Danny to appear, but he was nowhere to be found.

  Panic. They’d rushed in every direction, looking, calling his name. Nothing. Silence. The breeze through the treetops the only sound when they’d forced themselves to stop and listen.

  Her mother was on the phone with 911 when Sadie emerged from behind a tree, shaking her head, tears streaming down her face. “Danny!” she’d called out as loud as she could, trying to keep the fear out of her voice so as not to scare him if he could hear her. Silence.

  At footsteps, they’d all turned expectantly and rushed over, but it was a young couple with hiking poles. No, they hadn’t seen a little boy with blond hair and orange light-up sneakers. Sorry. They’d help look, though, they’d said.

  Converse County search and rescue, park rangers and loc
al police were there within minutes. A tall, dark-haired man, his orange shirt emblazoned front and back with Badger Tree National Park Search and Rescue, Axel Dawson embroidered on the right chest, appeared with a dog, a yellow Lab, and asked for something with Danny’s scent. Sadie pulled Danny’s hoodie from her backpack, and Axel held it under the dog’s nose, then stared at the photos of Danny on Sadie’s phone. He’d had her text a few to him, and then he’d rushed into the woods near the last spot the women were sure they’d seen him. Two hours later, Danny was still lost, radios crackling, areas checked rattled off. Axel Dawson had reappeared to speak to Sadie, asking for special words Danny liked, songs he knew, and she’d been so out of her mind she’d barely remembered his favorite word was nana—for banana, not grandmother—and he liked the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song.

  Axel had put warm, strong hands on her shoulders, looked her right in the eyes with his startling blue ones and said, as the sun went down behind him, that he’d find her son. He’d said it with such conviction in his voice, in his expression, that she’d believed him more than she’d ever believed anything.

  Twenty minutes later, the radios of the park ranger and police officer who’d stayed with the family had blared to life, and the ranger screamed, “Danny has been found! He’s alive and well, and they’re heading here!” Cheers went up among the group, including the EMTs at the ready. Sadie dropped to her knees with relief. Her mom, aunt and cousin were crying and staring in every direction, waiting. And then out of the tree line came Axel Dawson, his right cheek bleeding from a long scrape, holding Danny tight in his arms as the boy sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and made the spider hand gesture up to Axel’s chin, the yellow Lab following them.

  Sadie had gone flying over, sobbing thank you over and over as she’d reached out for Danny. She’d held her son close, covering him with kisses, and then the EMTs had led her over to the ambulance. Danny seemed okay but had his share of scratches. He’d been chasing a woodland critter and had ended up crawling through brush and vines into a well-hidden badger’s den and fallen asleep. Dude, Axel’s search and rescue K-9 partner, had sniffed him out and stayed put until Axel got in and got the boy out.

  Sadie had heard this all secondhand from the police and EMTs, who’d heard it from Axel via radio when he’d been rushing the boy out of the woods. She’d looked for him to thank him again, but he appeared to be getting a serious dressing-down from another man in a park search and rescue shirt, and then she and her family had gone to the hospital to have Danny checked out, and she hadn’t seen Axel Dawson again. She’d returned the next day, bringing a pie from her mother, a strudel from her aunt and a hundred-dollar gift card from her cousin to a local restaurant, but she’d heard he’d left town for a while.

  Apparently, he’d broken a few rules to find Danny and had been sent home on enforced “rest and relaxation” for two weeks. Sadie had felt terrible about that. A couple of days later, when she’d gotten Axel’s address and gone to his cabin nestled at the base of the mountain to thank him in person and apologize for whatever had happened, a fellow ranger had said that Axel had gone to his family’s guest ranch out in Bear Ridge for a while. Sadie’s mom had immediately tried to book their annual family reunion at the Dawson ranch, but there were no openings till winter—and the family needed all six cabins. A few days later, though, Sadie’s mom had gotten a call from the Dawson ranch that a corporate retreat had canceled for the last week of August, and voilà: thirty-eight of Sadie’s relatives had descended on the rural Wyoming property.

  “Remember, he’s single,” her mother whispered into Sadie’s ear.

  Ugh. How did Viv Winston always know what she was doing? How could her mom possibly know that Sadie was thinking about Axel Dawson? Though technically, Sadie was thinking about what happened three months ago. The man was a huge part of that, though.

  “Not that single,” Sadie whispered. “I told you what the park ranger said.”

  Three of the rangers, two female and one male, had come to the hospital to visit Danny and bring him stuffed toys, which had been incredibly kind, and as they were leaving, Sadie had heard one say, “Is McGorgeous here?”

  The other had said, “Give it up, already. I told you I heard Axel Dawson doesn’t do commitment.”

  “I know, but I like to look at him,” the other said, and they chuckled.

  Sadie had filed that tidbit away. Axel was nice to look at, and he’d found her son and brought him to her. The combination was potent. The past few months, she’d had a passing thought or two or a hundred about getting to know him better while at the reunion on his ranch. But better to think of him as a superhero like her family did instead of a man she could actually get to know better. Sadie Winston did not, repeat, did not want anything to do with a man who didn’t “do commitment.”

  “Oh flibberty-poop,” Viv said with a wave of her arm, her ash-blond bob swinging by her chin. She smiled at two of the children who were following a chicken, then sidled closer to Sadie. “Everyone wants love.”

  Sadie sure did. A nutritionist specializing in geriatric patients for the Converse County General Hospital in Prairie City, which was a town over from Bear Ridge, Sadie had a rewarding job, a nice small house in the center of town, friends, a big family, but she was sick to death of showing up alone to weddings and family parties. She was fine on her own, sure. But she wanted her life’s partner, dammit. Someone who’d care if she was running late. Someone to be there. Someone to wake up with, share her day with. Someone to share life with. Someone who’d love Danny the way she did. She’d married Danny’s father after a whirlwind courtship, despite his telling her he’d never thought he’d be the settling-down kind. She’d believed he loved her so much that he’d change. But when she told him she was pregnant, he’d disappeared with the rodeo—faster than she could even fill out paperwork to change her last name. Ever since, Sadie’s motto was when someone tells you who they are, believe them. Axel had made it clear to everyone he wasn’t the settling-down sort either. She should believe it.

  “Zul!” Danny shouted, pointing.

  Sadie’s heart sped up, and she glanced around. Zul was Danny’s attempt at saying Axel. Thanks to her family referring to the man as the family hero for the past three months, Danny had turned one of his stuffed animals, a floppy yellow lion with a shaggy brown mane, into “Zul.” Sadie’s grandmother Vanessa had made a little red cape for the lion, and the hero worship was complete. It was Danny’s lovey, and he took it everywhere. Sadie knew her aunt was holding it right now so that Danny could pet the animals. “When Zul?” Danny had asked every day as he flew the lion around.

  Finally, Sadie had a real answer for him. Because as the little boy took off running past the goats toward the open barn door, Sadie watched a tall, dark-haired, ocean-eyed man in a Stetson stop dead in his tracks as her son sprinted straight for him.

  Axel Dawson.

  * * *

  A toddler—two years old at most—in a straw cowboy hat was running full speed right at Axel. Whoa there, little guy. In about a minute, the tyke would collide with Axel’s knees. And since Axel had almost done his left knee in this morning from rescuing Hermione, the ranch’s famed runaway goat, from a narrow cliff up Clover Mountain just behind the ranch, he didn’t think it could take twenty-five pounds of flying energy.

  The hat flew off the boy’s head, his mop of blond hair flopping as he sped toward Axel, who stood about twenty feet away near the barn door. Two women in their fifties hurried after the bolter.

  Axel squinted in the bright sunshine. Holy molasses. Was that little Danny Winston barreling his way? And his great-aunt and grandmother behind him? The grandmother’s name was Viv, if he remembered right, but he couldn’t recall the great-aunt’s name.

  Axel’s throat went dry, and he swallowed, the late August afternoon suddenly hotter than it was five seconds ago. Let me be seeing things, he thought. Correction: prayed.
<
br />   “Danny, slow down!” one of the women called.

  Prayer denied. That little boy in the dinosaur-covered T-shirt, blue shorts and orange light-up sneakers was definitely Danny Winston.

  Axel’s sister, the ranch’s guest relations manager, had told him a family reunion was being held on the property, every bed in the six cabins filled, including cots brought in for the smaller kids. The clan was arriving today—and clearly had, given the crowd in the petting zoo. Had he asked their name? Probably not. Axel’s job at the ranch revolved around guest safety and leading wilderness tours through the forest and up Clover Mountain. Knowing names and stocking the cabins with welcome baskets that catered to allergies and favorites was his sister’s thing. Axel was more interested in sizing up guests’ likelihood of getting lost and needing rescue; he kept watch over those types. There were lots of those. City slickers and country-bred alike.

  “Zul!” Danny shouted as he came flying at Axel, twenty-five pounds of energy. The boy wrapped his arms around Axel’s leg and squeezed.

  Aw. Danny remembered his name. Well, half of it. “Hey there, partner,” Axel said, scooping the tot up in his arms, the solid weight of him a reminder of three months ago.

  “Hi, Zul!”

  “Hey, Danny. Nice to see you again.”

  The boy beamed up at him with his bright white baby-teeth smile and those huge hazel-brown eyes. He was surprised Danny recognized him after three months, but maybe one of his relatives had pointed him out. There’s that nice man who rescued you from the mountain, he could imagine one of the Winstons saying.

  “Our hero!” called a woman’s voice.

  Axel glanced at Danny’s grandmother as she approached. Her sister, Danny’s great-aunt, was right behind her and holding a stuffed lion with what looked like a red cape.

  “We hoped you’d be here!” the grandmother said. The Winstons had a strong family resemblance. Many were blond. The grandmother was tall and strong, her own ash-blond hair cut to her chin with a sweep of bangs. She extended her hand, and Axel shifted Danny so he could shake it. “I’m Viv, Sadie’s mother. We decided to hold our family reunion on the Dawson Family Guest Ranch in your honor as a thank-you for finding our Danny.”