“Oh, Honey,” Daisy Sessions called from behind her.
No, no, no.
She’d hoped to make a clean getaway. Daisy was one of the reasons she so regretted leaving. Turning, she pasted on a smile to greet her new friend.
“Honey,” Daisy said, wrapping an arm around Honey’s waist. “You have to come to tea.
Now.
”
The warmth of another human being touching her with kindness was almost too much for Honey to bear. Drawn into an embrace against Daisy’s soft, rounded body, Honey drank in the scent of lilacs and homemade bread. The woman was only slightly older than her, but Honey had recognized her motherly nature from their first meeting. Never having known her own, she’d been unable to resist the other woman’s kindness. Everything about her, but especially her sweet scent, smelled like home—or what Honey had always imagined home might smell like.
She pulled away and glanced up, reading compassion in Daisy’s strained smile.
“Tea,” Daisy said the word with a firmness that brooked no argument. “You’re coming home with me.”
“I need to get packed,” Honey said, her chin wobbling.
Daisy squeezed her shoulder but didn’t let go as she walked her toward the door. “If you like, the ladies and I will help you pack later.”
“He said that to you?” Letty Handy said in her gruff voice. Her brows drew into a single fierce line across her forehead. “Amos said Curly told him you and the sheriff were in the jail an awful long time.”
Seated in a delicate chair in the rectory parlor, Honey felt a guilty flush heat her cheeks.
Something about her expression seemed to fascinate Letty and Daisy, who sat on a loveseat across from her. Their eyes widened.
“Did he take advantage of you, my dear?” Daisy asked, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
Unable to hold their gazes, Honey nodded. “He kissed me.” Could she lie by omission in the parson’s house? What the hell? “Oh, Daisy, I melted into a gooey puddle. I let him touch me under my skirts. I couldn’t help myself.”
Daisy blushed scarlet all the way to the roots of her ashy blonde hair. “I’m sure we have all been carried away by the attentions of a handsome man.”
“Speak for yourself,” Letty murmured. “What happened next?”
Honey sniffed into Daisy’s freshly starched handkerchief. “After…you know…he touched me, he said he was only doing me…a-a
favor
,” she wailed.
“The scoundrel,” Daisy exclaimed, a hand going to her breast. “The man thinks too highly of himself.”
“He is a handsome one,” Letty said, shrugging when Daisy aimed a sharp glance her way. “I may be married, but I ain’t dead. The man only has to breathe and he fair takes a woman’s breath away.”
“Here, my dear,” Daisy said, “drink this. It will fortify you.”
Honey wiped her nose and accepted a small glass of port. She stared at it for a second and then downed it in a single gulp. She didn’t miss the raised eyebrows from the ladies gathered in Daisy’s parlor. Well, it wasn’t like she had a reputation to uphold any longer.
Daisy and Letty raised their glasses and each downed hers in a single gulp.
“Oh my, that does warm a body up,” Daisy said, staring into the bottom of her now-empty glass.
“Come, Daisy,” Letty said, giving Daisy a nudge of her elbow. “This is not the time for temperance.”
A slow, mischievous smile stretched across Daisy’s face, reminding Honey of a child sneaking an extra licorice from the candy jar. She poured another glass for herself and topped off Letty’s and Honey’s. “Well, you simply must stand your ground, Honey.”
Honey sniffed. “I don’t want to anymore. He humiliated me.”
“Nonsense,” Daisy said firmly but with kindness in her blue eyes. “I think what you’re feeling has nothing whatsoever to do with embarrassment. My dear, he hurt your feelings.”
“He used you and discarded you like day-old milk,” Letty said, her tone flat. “That man needs to be taught a lesson.”
Daisy rolled her eyes. “However crudely put, Letty is right.” She reached for Honey’s hands and leaned toward her. “You’ve taught us we don’t have to accept our lots in life. We can go out there and grab for our dreams.”
“All I did was sell you a poker potion,” Honey muttered.
Daisy’s lips formed a prim line. “My dear, your Elixir of Love placed power squarely in our hands. We rule our husbands’ libidos. Therefore, we hold their happiness in the palms of our hands.”
“Never knew how much their happiness depends on that.” Letty nodded. “Why, Amos was in such a good mood yesterday, he came to the kitchen after dinner and helped me finish cleaning up.” Her cheeks bloomed with two round spots of color on her cheeks.
Daisy’s eyes gleamed with understanding and humor. “In the kitchen?”
“Um, right on top of the table.”
Daisy took another sip of port and fanned herself. “Honey’s problem is that the sheriff was completely in control of their…encounter.”
“You know, Daisy, you have the right of that.” Letty burped and her eyes rounded. “Pardon me. He brought Honey into the jail, no doubt for intimidation.”
Daisy nodded. “He initiated the kiss and took what he wanted…given the time he had with her.”
“Um…I wasn’t exactly just standing there,” Honey grumbled. “I may have goaded him into…touching me.”
“Precisely what he’d like you to think,” Letty said, a militant gleam in her eyes. Her stout chest rose. “Men always want to blame their lack of control on women. I’m telling you, you were a victim of his lust.”
While the ladies’ staunch support warmed her heart, Honey knew she was every bit as much to blame for what had happened as the sheriff. “Well, it’s all water under the bridge. I’m leaving in the morning.”
“But you can’t leave, Honey.” Letty looked to Daisy, who nodded her agreement. “The weather’s gonna turn any day. It may be hot as Hades right now, but this is Texas—like Amos always says, wait a minute if you don’t like the heat. And you said it yourself, you need a place to set up for the winter.”
Honey took a deep breath and started to rise. “It can’t be here. He’s all but ordered me out of town.”
Daisy stood and placed a hand on her arm. “We’ll just have to change his mind.”
“Oh, no, Daisy, you can’t talk to him on my behalf. It would be too humiliating.”
Daisy and Letty shared a charged glance. “My dear, you go on back to your little wagon. Don’t you dare start packing until you hear from us.”
The ladies stood side-by-side, whether to support their swaying frames or as a show of solidarity, Honey wasn’t sure. “I don’t know whether I like the gleam in your eyes.”
“Don’t you see you belong here, my dear?” Daisy said. “You’ve known me two days and you already have a better measure of me than my husband has.”
Letty’s bulldog expression softened. “I’ve known Daisy since we were kids. Never knew she was such a passionate woman. You’ve taught us both that.”
Honey let out a slow breath. “I’m glad I could help. My elixir worked beyond my dreams.”
“So let us return the favor,” Daisy said, her expression pleading.
“But what are you going to do? You can’t confront the sheriff.” Lord, what would they reveal to him if they did? Especially in their slightly inebriated state.
“I won’t do anything so direct. But these circumstances call for desh-perate measures.” Daisy wrinkled her lips. “How odd. My lips are numb. I need another glass of port.”
Honey couldn’t help smiling at the tipsy woman. “Should you be drinking so much, Daisy?”
Daisy lifted her head proudly. “I need the courage for what I have in mind.”
Honey shook her head. “Why do I have the feeling I’m going to be wearing tar and hen feathers before you’re through?”
“Don’t you worry about a thing. You head back to camp and get yourself some resht. We’ll take care of everything.”
Honey shook her head, sure the women would be snoring on the loveseat in minutes if they tore back into the liquor. “You two stay here. I’ll let myself out.”
“Good idea,” Letty said, reaching for the port. “We have plans to make.”
“Here, here,” Daisy said, lifting her glass. “And a trap to shet.”
Honey set off down the road to her little campsite, just beyond the second bend. Whatever the women had planned wouldn’t make a hill of beans difference. Even if Sheriff Tanner came out to beg her forgiveness on bended knee for his cruelty, she still had to leave.
Sighing her relief, she reflected it was a good thing she hadn’t let herself fall in love with the man. He’d already come close to breaking her heart.
Chapter Three
The clopping of hooves woke Honey from her nap. Still groggy from the wine and the enervating heat, she rubbed her eyes, wondering who had come to visit and whether she would even unpack her medicines if they’d come for a cure.
Then another thought had her eyes widening, and she shot out of her bed and reached for her skirt, which was hanging from a hook beside her dresser.
Oh hell, had the ladies said something to the sheriff after all? Could it be him coming to apologize? Or worse, remind her she had to leave?
As quickly as shaking fingers would allow, she pulled on her blouse and hooked the buttons up her back, leaving the top few undone. Her hair would just have to hide her state of undress.
“
Hallo
. Honey, you in there, girl?” came a voice she’d recognize anywhere if only for its gruffness.
“Letty?” she called out. She opened the door of her wagon and stepped down to the ground to find Letty with her skirts hitched high on either side of her legs, straddling a horse as wide as she was.
Only Letty wasn’t looking her way. She was turned in her saddle and staring down the road.
Honey walked up beside her and followed the direction of her gaze to see Daisy and Sally Epperson seated on a buckboard wagon, waving gaily at her as they approached. What were the good ladies up to now?
Letty tapped Honey on the shoulder. “We brung you a present.”
Honey’s eyebrows shot up, and she turned to stare at the two women atop the wagon whose smiles couldn’t have been any wider. “Letty, what the hell did you do?”
“We’re just givin’ you a chance to return a favor,” she said with a naughty waggle of her bushy eyebrows.
Honey’s heart galloped like a runaway horse. “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.” She picked up her skirts and ran to the wagon before the ladies had even pulled back on the reins of the team to halt it.
As Honey ran around the back, Sally giggled. “I’d be in a hurry too.”
“Sally, you been dipping into Daisy’s port?” Honey asked as she lowered the back gate.
“Had to make her a co-consh-pirator,” Daisy said, then giggled herself.
“We couldn’t have done what we did without a shot of courage,” Sally said, then snorted before breaking into a gale of laughter.
The bed of the wagon was filled with loose hay. A black boot stuck out from under the straw at the end of the bed.
Fascinated, Honey gave the boot a pull, half hoping it wasn’t attached to anyone’s foot, but she had no such luck. She gathered handfuls of straw and started dragging it from the wagon to uncover the body of a very large man.
A very quiet large man.
With only the half of him she could reach cleared of straw, she didn’t have any trouble recognizing who it was. “Daisy, did you kill him?”
“Now, Honey,” Daisy said, her normally light and musical voice pitched low with a dirty edge. “I’m a good Christian woman—thatsh what we needed Sally for.”
“To kill him?” Honey asked, her breaths getting so shallow she thought she might faint.
“Sh-Shuch a suspicious mind. Although I’m almost flattered you think I could have done it.”
Honey rolled her eyes, hitched up her skirts and climbed up on the wagon bed. She shoved more hay off the back of the wagon until the sheriff’s upper torso and head were cleared. Leaning close to his broad chest, Honey breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the sheriff’s soft snores. He was out cold. But how?
“Did you clobber him?” she asked as she felt the back of his head for knots.
“I already told you that was what we needed Sally for,” Daisy said grumpily.
“So she could clobber him?”
Sally giggled. “No, silly. For the Sweet Dreams Syrup you gave my mama.”
Honey patted his cheeks. “Lord, he’s out like a rock. How much did you give him?”
“I’m not quite sure. I mixed it in his coffee when he came by the café. Told him it was sweetened with honey. He’s so polite he drank the whole thing, even though he made the funniest faces.”
“Ya need help gettin’ him inside?” Letty asked as she walked up beside the wagon, rubbing the small of her back.
“Oh, no,” Honey said, shaking her head at Letty. “He’s not staying here.”
“But we brung him just for you,” Letty said, disappointment making her face look as drawn as a basset hound’s.
“Well, you can take him right on back.” Panic made her voice a little shrill. “What were you ladies thinking? You kidnapped the sheriff!”
“We sure did,” Letty said with a wide grin. “He fell asleep sitting on the stool, and I had to lean real close to him to keep him from sliding to the floor until we could chase Amos out of the restaurant.”
“He’s a big man. How the hell’d you get him out of the café and into the cart?”
“I’m a blacksmith’s wife,” Letty said, hitching up the waistband of her skirt. “I’ve helped Amos around the smithy so long, I can pert near carry a horse on my back.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Honey said, shaking her head. “Ladies, I appreciate that you went to all this trouble for me, but what am I supposed to do with him? He’s going to blame me when he wakes up. I’ll end up in jail for real this time.”
Letty slapped a hand on Honey’s shoulder, her smile widening. “He won’t press no charges. Think he’ll want the whole town to know that a bunch of women kidnapped him, stripped him nekkid and tied him to your bed?”
Honey’s mouth gaped open. “That’s your plan?”
“Ain’t it brilliant? The stripped nekkid part was my idea. You can compromise him right back for what he did to you.”
“Compromise him?”
“Yup.” Daisy’s nod almost unbalanced her, and Sally grabbed for her shoulder to keep her sitting straight. “Euphimischt-ically speaking.”
“Eupha what?” Sally asked.
“Close your ears, Sally,” Letty said, then leaned close to Honey to whisper loudly, “Honey girl, you kin have your wicked way with him.”
“I don’t believe you just said that,” Honey said, wishing the ground would just open up and swallow her whole.
“No time to be mishish—missish,” Daisy said, stuck out her tongue and stared at it cross-eyed. “Why isn’t it working anymore?”
Letty gave Honey a fearsome scowl. “Don’t you remember he told you he was doing you a favor?”
Honey remembered those were her words, but his reply had been spoken so coldly he had made her feel dirty and ashamed. She gave him a kick.
“That’s the shpirit,” Daisy said.
“Just think,” Letty whispered. “All that prime-grade male, just lyin’ there. Think you might need some help?”
“Help?” Honey asked.
“Letty, for shame,” Daisy said, but her lips twitched. “But we do need to strip him, since we’re the married ladies in the group.”
Honey shook her head again, wondering when everyone had taken a crazy pill. “And I thought this was a nice, quiet little town.”
“Can’t I help?” Sally asked, her pretty face blushing. “I could keep my eyes closed and just feel my way.”
Honey blushed scarlet at the familiar phrase. “Ladies, we can’t do this.”
“Too late to back out now,” Letty said. “If he wakes up in the wagon, he’s gonna arrest us all. Have to get him compromised first. That way he won’t say a word.”
Honey closed her eyes and wished she’d already packed and left. “I don’t believe this.”
Letty hopped into the back of the wagon, surprisingly spry for a woman of her proportions. “Someone get his legs,” she said as she lifted up his shoulders.
“I want a leg,” Sally said, jumping from the wagon seat.
“Just don’t think you can pull on him like a wishbone,” Letty said. “We want him fully functionin’ when he wakes up.”
Honey rushed to help Daisy from the wagon seat. The woman swayed and put a hand to her mouth.
“You gonna be all right?” Honey asked. A crash from the back of the wagon had her rushing around to find the sheriff sprawled on the ground. “Oh Lord, you’re gonna kill him for sure. Then where will I be?”
“We’ll help ya hide the body,” Letty said.
“The point is I don’t want him dead. I don’t even want him hurt.”
“Then why’d you kick him?”
Frustrated and wondering why she was the only one sober in the group, Honey picked up a heavy leg. “Come on, ladies. Since we’re already criminals, we might as well make the man comfortable.”
Sally, Letty and Honey wrestled with his deadweight, managing nicely until they reached Honey’s narrow stairs. By the time they had him at the foot of the stairs, sweat plastered Honey’s forehead and her shirt was wet beneath her arms. The other ladies weren’t in much better condition.
Honey gently lowered the leg she’d carried and wiped sweat from her forehead. “So how are we going to get him up those stairs?”
“Maybe we could just make him a pallet here under the trees,” Daisy said.
Exasperation sharpened Honey’s words. “For anyone who might come by to see? I don’t think so.”
“Get a blanket,” Letty said. “We’ll lay him on it and slide him up the stairs.”
Honey found her oldest threadbare blanket, and they rolled him onto it. Then Letty took position at the top of the steps, squatting with her legs spread wide. She gathered the end of the blanket and began to pull.
The sounds of stitches popping had Honey rushing to pull on the sides and help ease the sheriff up the steps. His head hit the steps with each pull.
“Lordy, that man’s gonna have a headache,” Letty said. “Deserves every knot too.”
“If the overdose of the potion doesn’t kill him,” Honey mumbled, her breath rasping with exertion. “I’ll be hung for bludgeoning him to death.”
“Don’t be such a sourpuss,” Letty said. “Wait until we get him nekkid—you’ll be happier then.”
Honey shook her head forlornly. She’d be the one left to explain why he was in her bed with goose eggs on the top of his head and bruises over every other inch of his skin. Tar and hen feathers were looking pretty good now.
Daisy and Letty settled him onto her narrow mattress. Because it had been her father’s bunk before his death, the sheriff’s feet stretched to the very end of the mattress with only an inch to spare.
“Let’s make him comfortable and get the hell out of here before he wakes up,” Letty said.
“Getting nervous now? Need a little more port?” Honey asked, acid in her voice.
Letty gave her stare. “You got a mean streak. Never noticed that before.”
When Daisy started unbuttoning his shirt, Letty reached eagerly for the waist of his trousers.
“Letty,” Daisy said, her tone holding a warning. “The man is incapacitated. Remember, you are a Christian lady—and married.”
“Doesn’t mean I cain’t look.”
“Just be quick about it. We shouldn’t take any joy in this.”
Daisy had managed to strip away the shirt and Letty had the placket of his trousers unbuttoned when Sally sighed. “My word,” she said breathlessly as the pants opened to reveal the sheriff’s substantial…manhood.
Even resting, it was a beautiful sight to behold—at least to Honey.
Sally’s eyes widened, and she looked more than a little frightened.
“Sally, you go step outside,” Daisy said. “We’ll have a talk about the birds and the bees on the way back to town.”
Sally fled without a backward glance.
Letty seemed to take her sweet time dragging his trousers and drawers down his long legs.
“What are you going to do if he opens his eyes and sees who’s strippin’ him bare-naked?” Daisy asked.
Letty’s lips curved downward. “Spoilsport. Only ever saw one man nekkid. Just wanted to peek.”
“Don’t you think Amos would mind you ogling another man’s privates?”
“It’s just natural,” Letty said, her eyes never straying from his sex. “What God gave him.”
“You are not communing with nature. You’re ogling a defenshless man.”
Letty’s hand hovered over him, and Honey’s eyes widened.
“Letty!” Daisy’s eyes bugged.
“It’s all curled up like a giant clam. I just wanted to see how big—”
“Honey can tell us later.”
When the boots and trousers dropped to the floor, both church ladies gave him one last head-to-foot glance. “Just want to make sure he’s not too badly bruised,” Daisy murmured.
“I think you’ve done enough, ladies,” Honey said, gritting her teeth. She loved them both, but they’d landed her in a pile of manure without a shovel to dig her way out.
“Wait.” Letty dug into the pockets at the sides of her wide skirts. She pulled out two short pieces of rope and quickly tied his hands to the bed posts. When she was done, she shook her head. “Gives a woman ideas.”
Daisy gave Honey a quick hug. “Follow your heart,” she whispered and then tugged on Letty’s sleeve.
Letty gave her a bone-crunching hug. “And if your heart’s not in it—remember there’s always revenge.”
The ladies piled onto horses and wagons and waved happily at Honey as they headed back down the road.
Honey took a deep breath and turned around to face the man who’d haunted her dreams since she’d arrived.
What to do with him now? Should she try to revive him, beg him for mercy and hope he didn’t arrest her on the spot? Or should she just let him sleep it off? She honestly didn’t know if her libido could take the torment. She’d never been presented such a ripe temptation in her entire life.
Gazing longingly at his loins, she quickly came to the conclusion she was a weak-willed woman and she’d burn in hell for all the lewd possibilities flashing through her dirty little mind.
Well, first she had to look her fill or she’d get a headache trying not to. Not that she needed much convincing.
His body was a beautiful thing. So large he sprawled over the length and width of the narrow mattress, his size alone made her belly ache with need. She stepped closer and marveled at how well God had arranged all his…parts.
Everything in proportion.
Nearly everything lightly furred with dark, curling hair that looked shiny and silky soft. She didn’t resist the urge to touch him and combed her fingers through the hair on his chest.
Just as she’d thought, it was soft and curled around her fingertips like it was trying to trap her hand against his skin.
Her fingertips grazed a small, flat nipple and she paused to circle it, amazed when a small nub rose at its center. Were his nipples as sensitive as hers? Just looking at his naked body had her nipples poking at the front of her blouse. She circled the pad of one finger on the tiny tip.