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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