"No, I just tasted too bad to share. Even those industrial-strength mints you bought for me weren't enough to get rid of the taste in my mouth." She grimaced. "I vaguely remember stuffing a mint under my tongue just before I fell asleep. Which explains it."

"Okay, you lost me. Which explains what?"

She licked her lips and swallowed. Everything was in working order, including her salivary glands. "I don't usually wake up tasting like a peppermint factory."

"Really?" He tipped her chin up and kissed her slowly, sampling the flavor. "Spearmint, actually. My favorite."

"You sure?"

He kissed her again, loving the feel of tongue against tongue and his woody snug against her naked hips. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure."

"Not peppermint?" She watched him, her smoky golden eyes alive with teasing and something more, something hot.

"Maybe I should taste again," he said.

Carly turned to face him fully. "Maybe you should."

He caught his breath at the feel of her breasts moving against him, her nipples hard and hungry.

"You sure?" he asked, repeating her question.

"Very sure. But I'm not taking anything, so we'll have to be creative until we get to a drugstore."

"Creative." His smile was like his kiss, slow and hot. "We'll try that, too, but I bought condoms after the first time I saw you."

She blinked. "I must have looked real easy."

"You were fire and I was cold all the way to my core. I needed you so much I couldn't breathe. I still do."

The look in his eyes and the catch in his voice sent heat through her in a liquid wave, preparing her body. She'd never been wanted the way Dan wanted her. Blindly she reached out to him, understanding in that moment that she needed him in the same way, no questions, no hesitation, just a certainty that burned through a lifetime of doubts.

"I want you so much I don't know what to do first," she admitted raggedly.

His eyelids lowered in a sensual reflex that was as uncontrollable as the increased heart rate sending blood beating through his veins.

"Come here," he said, rolling over on his back, taking her with him. "This way I know I won't rush you."

She gave a shaky laugh as she fought off bedding to straddle him. "You aren't rushing me, you're driving me crazy."

He groaned at the sleek feel of her sliding over him. "You're making it hard for me to slow down."

"Did I ask you to?"

"I want it to be good for you." His hands cupped her breasts and his thumbs rubbed over the tips. "I want it to be the best you ever had."

He caught her hard nipples in his fingers and squeezed with sensual precision.

Twin spears of pleasure shot through her, going from her breasts to her thighs, making her breath and her body come apart. She felt liquid heat bathing her, spilling over to him. Suddenly his fingers were opening her, tracing over her hot folds, moving inside her, sending pleasure spiraling until she couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't breathe, could only need and need and need.

And then it stopped.

"No!" she said.

"Easy, darling, let me get this damn thing on."

Her eyes opened, dazed and hungry. She saw him toss away a foil wrapper and sheathe himself with an impatient motion of his hand. Her breath filled her throat. She'd forgotten what a big man he was.

Way too big.

"Too late to be scared now," he said, teasing her with his fingers, positioning himself at her entrance. "You're wet enough to take me. Slide down, Carolina May. Trust your body. Trust us."

It was impossible not to, for her body was once again on fire, rings of pleasure radiating up, shaking her. He felt the lush heat of her response, felt her widen her thighs to take him, felt the hot satin inside her pressing around him, and gritted his teeth against coming right there. He wanted to be all the way in before he came, as deep as possible. He wanted to feel her orgasm squeeze him from tip to base. He wanted it all with her, everything he'd ever imagined, every way, every-

The wild shuddering of her release tore away his breath and his control. He held her deep and hard, pumping into her until there was nothing left but a kind of dazed satisfaction that turned his body to sand. The way she lay slumped against him told him that she felt the same way.

"Carly?"

"Wow."

"Whew," he said, smiling.

"No, wow."

"You're wowing. I'm whewing with relief."

Her laughter was a ripple of her body around his. She lifted her head, swiped hair out of her eyes, and kissed him almost shyly. Red stained her cheeks.

"What?" he asked, touching her face.

"Cosmo articles don't cover this moment."

Dark eyebrows rose. "Really? There's something about sex that hasn't been headlined in a woman's magazine?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

She shook her head and glanced down, sending her hair flying again.

"C'mon." He lifted her chin gently. "I'm dying here."

"How do you say thanks for the best sex of your life?" she mumbled, looking at his mouth rather than his eyes.

His smile made her warm all over again.

"That's easy," he said against her lips. "Thanks for the best sex of my life."

"Not you, me."

"Both of us."

She banged her forehead lightly against his chest. "One of us isn't making sense."

"Do that some more, honey. I like the way it feels."

"I could tell. Do you have another condom or is it time to be creative?"

"Hell of an idea," he said, pulling her mouth down to his.

The phone rang.

He ignored it.

It kept ringing.

Blindly he felt at the bedside for the receiver, picked it up. "What," he snarled.

"Just wanted to make sure you got home okay," Gus said. "Two of the guests at the memorial service ended up in Urgent Care. Something in the food apparently. It was touch-and-go for Winifred just because she was already weak, but she's stable now. The governor was dog sick, but he recovered and is on his way back to the campaign trail."

Carly could hear Gus's voice. She separated from Dan and lay along his side. He tilted the phone so she could hear both ends of the conversation.

"Anyone else?" Dan asked.

"Alma and Melissa both were sick. Alma was the worst, really woozy, but Winifred gave her something before she started getting nauseated herself."

"What about the minister?"

"He was a little queasy but didn't hurl. Same for Pete. Lucia said she threw up once and that was it. No one else on the ranch was sick, even the Sandoval women who prepared the food and drink. Same for the Snead brothers, who were snitching samples."

Shivering, Carly drew blankets up over herself and Dan. He pulled her back into place along his side, tucking her head against his neck.

"Carly and I were sick, but we're fine now," Dan said. "Are they testing the drink we toasted Sylvia with?"

"Nothing was left of it."

"Not even a drop?"

"The container is gone. So are the cups. One of the maids saw Winifred smashing everything and throwing it in the fireplace to burn.

She said it was part of the ritual. But that's not for the general public," Gus cautioned.

Dan looked at Carly. She nodded; she wasn't going to spread the news around.

"What did Sheriff Montoya say?" Dan asked.

"For the record?"

"Fuck the record."

"Right," Gus said without a pause. "Montoya said that the old curandera must have screwed up her potion, added something that was an emetic, and made folks sick."

"That's how he's treating it? Accidental poisoning?"

"Poison was never mentioned. Bad food, according to the report. Maybe even flu."

"Off the record," Dan said.

Carly looked at the grim line of Dan's mouth as he waited for Gus to speak.

"Agreed," Gus said unhappily.

"I don't know what hit the others, but Carly and I were fed a hefty dose of opiate."