Well, you better run real fast, man,
Or this one`s gonna knock you down
Rattle Snake Smile ~ Christian Kane
Eliot awoke sometime late in the afternoon. Looking down, he saw that Katie was still sound-asleep so he slid out of the bed, careful not to disturb her. He could hear noises down the hall so he pulled on a t-shirt and quietly left the room.
Nate and Sophie were sitting at the table talking over coffee cups. He could smell Sophie's herbal tea mixing with the smell of fresh coffee from the kitchen. On the couch, Parker was half-lying across Alec, both of them sleeping. Nate looked up and smiled.
"Is Katie still asleep? Hardison said she had a rough time this morning," Sophie asked, her concern apparent.
"She's exhausted," Eliot replied, going to pour himself some coffee. He returned to the main room and sat down in a chair across from Nate. After a few sips of coffee, he stared at the cup for a few moments before he added, "It was tough."
"You okay?" Sophie gaze searched his face.
"You know me," he shrugged.
"Hmm. Which is why I asked."
"I'll be better after this is resolved." Looking at Nate, he asked, "Any idea how you're going to work this one?"
"First we need to get to Thomas. Apparently, his father made a bid to purchase Katie's land but he low-balled it quite a bit," Nate replied. "And it seems that Thomas has a condo here now. According to Hardison, he rented the space a few weeks before John was killed."
"So we need to get into that condo," Eliot answered.
"We meaning the four of us," Nate said. "I need you to sit this one out, Eliot"
"What? Are you crazy?" Eliot snapped, tapping his finger on the table. "This man is a killer!"
"We don't know that he actually killed her brother. From what little bit of info Hardison found out earlier before he fell asleep, Thomas doesn't seem like the type to do the dirty work himself. Either way, we can't risk you being recognized here." Nate sat forward, putting his elbows on the table. "Besides, you need to protect Katie. We don't know how much of a presence this mob has locally."
Eliot scowled, knowing Nate was right. "So what do I do?"
"We have to get into his condo and find out what we can before we can make further plans. But we still need more information from Katie, if you think she's up to it," Nate explained.
"I am." Katie walked in and sat down in the empty chair, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Still wearing Eliot's shirt over a pair of shorts, she looked so young now.
"How are you feeling?" Sophie asked as Eliot got up to get her a cup of coffee.
"I'm okay." Katie attempted a weak smile but her eyes showed she was still anything but okay. Turning to Nate, she asked, "What do you want to know?"
Nate's gaze flickered over to Eliot, who studied Katie for a moment then gave him a nod of consent. He knew Nate sensed how fragile she was now but also knew she'd feel better when this was over. The sooner they got answers, the better.
Katie answered all of their questions, even the ones that touched extremely close to her heart. She seemed calm but Eliot sensed it was a façade. They'd been asking her questions for an hour or so when Hardison and Parker woke up. Alec began researching things while Parker poured a bowl of cereal and listened to them from her perch on the counter.
"Did you have a will? Who would inherit if you had died in the fire?" Nate asked and Katie was quiet, thinking for a few moments.
"My brother and I were each other's primary beneficiary. If one of us died, there was some going to specific employees, charities, and Eliot. The wills were written after my parents' death when I was fourteen so I don't understand it all. I just remember what I heard at the reading of John's will. Something about a trust that was formed that would give equal shares of the ranch and land to the employees as well as a certain amount of the money to maintain it. I think the rest of the money was left to Drew – I mean, Eliot."
Hardison gave a low long whistle. "Excuse me? Can you repeat that?" Eliot asked, shocked. John had never told him that.
"Oh shit! I also remember there was a special section that was repeated from my parents' wills and several generations back. Something about how the estate would remain with blood relatives in the Stanton line if we had any children, even if we were married. I do know that was an iron clad thing because when my mother died before my father, the whole estate transferred to me and John, not dad. Some paranoid blah blah about bad marriages," Katie explained, waving her hand around.
"Wait...back up a little bit," Eliot sat up and looked at her intently. "Your family has a special clause in the will to prevent the estate falling into the wrong hands if you guys married a gold digger but the majority of the estate goes to me if you two were to die?"
Katie shrugged. "Well yeah…it's not like we could take it with us and John considered you part of the family anyway. I'm sure we would have revised the wills if and when we had children of our own but…who else would we leave it to?"
Eliot eyes widened but he was too speechless to even answer. She acted like they were just leaving him a family pet, close to fifty million dollars. He was touched but…wow. If John was here now he'd probably kick his ass for being so generous.
Returning his focus to the conversation he watched Nate furrow his brow before asking, "Did you have any life insurance?"
Katie shook her head. "I can't imagine why John would take any out on me. He only had any because the ranch employees and their families were in a group insurance plan and it was required that he had a policy since he was the owner." Katie got up and refilled her cup with coffee before she returned to her seat. "I really don't know all of the details about the business though. It would probably be on his laptop."
"It sounds like your family took good care of their employees." Sophie smiled. "It's a nice change to see something like that from a wealthy family."
"Most of the families that worked at the ranch were third or fourth generation employees of Katie's family due to their well-known generosity. It was rare if they hired full time workers who weren't related somehow to existing or previous workers or at least good family friends," Eliot explained. "When her parents ran the ranch, they'd bring in temporary workers only when they needed extra help."
"No one stood to benefit from your death except the ranch employees and Eliot," Nate commented. "So why kill her? She already thought the money was gone, she'd sold off the horses, and the estate is for sale. What is the payoff of her death?"
Everyone was silent for a few moments before Hardison answered.
"I checked out the insurance company that Thomas insured the condo with and there was a five million dollar life insurance policy taken out five years ago," he said, bringing the laptop to the table and showing Nate the screen. "On Katie."
"What?" Katie asked in shock. "By whom?"
"Apparently by you," Nate showed her the screen that showed her signature on the document. "This is your signature, isn't it?"
"That's my signature, but I didn't buy any life insurance."
Even though Eliot felt sure he knew, he asked anyway, "Thomas is the beneficiary?"
"Thomas and his father, split equally." Nate raised his eyebrows. "Katie, think really hard. Did you sign anything with Thomas?"
"No. I didn't…wait, during the wedding planning, we signed pre-nups," she replied. "But no life insurance."
"Let me guess. At his lawyer's office, not yours," Sophie said, glancing over at Katie.
"Well, my lawyer was there. He flew down with my documents and reviewed Thomas'. But yes, it was at his father's corporate lawyer's office. They wanted to make sure that I didn't attempt to take part of the company if we got divorced," Katie replied.
"Was there anyone else other than the lawyers? There would have been an insurance agent there for a policy this big. He would have reviewed the policy with you," Nate explained.
"There were other people there," she answered with a sigh. "I didn't really pay that much attention to their explanation of the paperwork. It was all legal mumbo jumbo. I just assumed that my lawyer would have caught anything unusual. I guess that was pretty stupid of me."
"There are a lot of ways they could have gotten you to sign something that your lawyer didn't see." Eliot recalled all the times they'd done the exact same thing. "Most likely, your lawyer wasn't in on it but we can check out his financials and his office. But the bottom line is based on what we know; no one stood to gain from your death other than your ex-fiancé except a bunch of hard-working, loyal, long-term employees and, well…me."
"I'm surprised Sterling isn't looking at you for this, Eliot," Parker piped up from the counter.
"Oh, I'm sure he is. Or at least trying to track down the infamous Drew…wait, what was your last name again?" Hardison asked with an amused smile. Eliot knew he probably already had the answer to that from all the paperwork he'd seen so far.
"Spencer. Eliot Spencer." Eliot glared at him.
"But why is his father interested in buying our ranch?" Katie asked.
"I need to check into his father's business a little more," Hardison replied as he returned to the sofa pulling up different things.
"I might have a plan. Eliot was in John's will, correct?" Sophie asked.
"Yeah. If the estate hadn't been wiped out, he would have gotten fifteen percent of my brother's trust fund and some of the land," Katie answered before looking at Eliot. "I guess I owe you some money when this is over?"
"I say a very grief stricken Eliot, or rather Drew, and his new gold-digging wife come to claim the money," Sophie said, turning to Nate.
"Oh! Did he marry a younger woman?" Parker jumped down from the counter.
"No! I don't like that plan," Eliot argued. "Besides, who'll watch over Katie?"
Nate sat back with a smile, a smile that made Eliot very nervous. "No!" he growled. "Dammit!"
"Eliot, you know it's a good plan. Currently, the property can be sold even though the arson is under investigation. They can sell off parcels of acreage. Thomas' father can snatch up the surrounding acres and once the arson investigation is over, no one else will want the small part around the house except the person who owns the rest. But if the will is in dispute, none of the estate can be settled and the ranch can't be sold." Nate glanced over at Katie. "We might be able to get your ranch back even if we can't get the money."
Eliot glared at Nate. He hated this plan. He was going to have to act grief stricken. Nate had no idea how hard he was suppressing his grief as it was.
"I'll be your wife, Eliot," Sophie interjected. "You can be silently strong and I'll be the gold digger in tears."
oOooOo
Katie walked outside when Nate started making plans for the four of them to break into Thomas' condo and the accountant's office that night. Eliot found her sitting on the front swing staring off into the distance.
"I don't care about getting the ranch back. I'm not even sure I want it," she said, finally.
"Katie, it's been in your family for…"
"Generations, I know. It doesn't change the fact that I don't want it. I can't explain it but…the money and the ranch have caused nothing except grief for me and John since my parents died. He drowned his sorrows because he dedicated his life to that ranch and it drained him dry, then he literally lost his life because of it." She shook her head. "I don't want it. But I don't want Thomas or his father to have it."
"You can figure out what you want to do with it after we get this resolved. Don't make any rash decisions now."
She smiled at him. "I want so much more. For so long, I've been taught to suppress what I wanted for the good of the ranch or the family. But I want my life to be something more than that now. I owe it to John to finally break free of this trap and do something with my life that actually matters, like what you guys are doing. What's the point of having millions if we just keep passing it down through the generations?"
"You can't do what we do. It's too dangerous," Eliot argued but stopped when she laughed.
"No, I didn't mean I wanted to become part of the team. I just meant I wanted to help people somehow," she answered, then put her arms around him. "I haven't lost my mind and I'm not going to learn how to pick locks and break into safes. I meant something a little bit less…well, less crazy." She giggled then leaned forward and kissed lightly.
One kiss followed another, but when the kiss turned passionate, he reluctantly pulled away. "I don't think we should…I mean, it's not that I don't want to, but after this morning, I don't want you to feel…" he trailed off, not knowing how to finish.
"Eliot," she caressed his cheeks with her hands before kissing him again. "It's not the same with you. With you, I feel so alive and it's the first time in so long that I've felt that. I know you're scared that I'm going to get hurt but I'd rather risk it than go back to feeling numb again. And I trust you, even if you don't trust yourself. I don't expect promises of the future from you. You're giving me all I want and need right now; passion, friendship, and honesty."
"And if I can never give you more than that?" he asked, stroking her hair which the sun lit to a flaming red.
"It's enough for now but please stop trying to protect me from you. You're not that hellion from the bad side of town anymore. You're a good, decent man. I just wish you could see yourself how I see you."
Eliot glanced away, uncomfortable talking about himself like this. Katie stood up and bending over she kissed him again so lovingly, it made his heart ache. Then she smiled. "Maybe when this is over you'll realize how awesome you really are."
"Oh, I know I'm awesome." He grinned.
"I walked into that, didn't I?" Laughing she left the porch, going inside.
Eliot remained outside for a long time, enjoying the swing and peaceful outdoor air. When this was over, he might sell the cabin. He'd kept it all the years after his father's death but had never set foot back in the door until this morning. It was pointless to keep it. He knew that he had always thought that one day, he'd return here to live. But he knew now that there was no reason to come home. He and Aimee would never work out. John was dead. Katie didn't seem very eager to linger in the past either. Now with the team, he had something good going on. It was time he buried this past once and for all. If he and Katie ended up parting ways when this was over, he'd try to convince her to stay in touch at least.
"You're in love." Parker's voice startled him. She was leaning against the railing watching him. He had no idea how long she'd been there.
"I'm not…"
"Yes, you are. I can see it. The whole dreamy eyed expression thing you got going on there." She tried to do an imitation of his expression and he glared at her.
"Shut up Parker. I'm not sitting here with any expression on my face except annoyance that you're harassing me."
"Face it, Sparky." She leaned forward. "It's all over now. You're in love. You're probably going to end up living on the ranch with her and your ten kids. It's so cute."
"Why don't you go do something useful? Like fuck Hardison," he sneered. He was quiet a moment before he added, "Thanks for this morning Parker. What you did…well, I wouldn't have handled it very well."
She nodded, staring off into the distance then said, "I don't like it here. It's too quiet, makes me think too much."
"Really? That's a shock," he teased then laughed when she tried to hit him.
"I like Katie better that the rest of the women you screw around with. So don't fuck it up this time, okay?" Parker jumped up and ran inside before he could reply.
"Eliot?" Sophie called from the door.
"I swear if one more person talks about 'feelings' or stupid shit like that I'm going to punch something again," he muttered under his breath.
"Nate wants to go over the plans with us. Are you ready?"
oOooOo
Leaving Eliot behind with Katie, the team left after dinner to go put bugs and cameras in the accountants and lawyer offices and in Thomas' condo. Katie began cleaning and washing linens to distract herself from her nervousness. Eliot was pacing back and forth, irritated that he had been left behind. Every once in awhile she'd hear him say something to one of the others on the coms but mainly he was quiet.
After she had done all the laundry and cleaning, Katie came and sat on the couch. She opened John's laptop and checked her e-mail. Signaling to Eliot, she showed him an e-mail from Brent, the ranch hand she'd been with the night of the fire.
"Hey Nate," Eliot said after reading the email. "It turns out that the guy with Katie the night of the fire emailed her. Apparently someone threatened him into leaving town, but he wanted Katie to know where he was. Said it was some guy in a suit that implied Brent would go down for the fire if he didn't leave town."
She couldn't hear the chatter on the other end so she just waited.
"What if it's a trap?" Eliot asked, sitting down beside her.
"Got it. I'll tell her," he replied before turning to her. "Email him back and ask him for his phone number. When Hardison returns he can bounce the cell phone signal off another tower in case someone is tracking him. Plus he'll see what he can find out about him. How well do you know this guy?"
"His father worked on the ranch for thirty years. Brent is young, a couple years older than me, but he was a hard worker. We'd go get a beer every once in awhile. I think he's dating some waitress," Katie shrugged. She wouldn't go so far as to say she trusted him completely because she'd learned lately her judgment about people was pretty damn off.
"So you and he…" Eliot gave her a curious look.
"Oh, God no. Definitely not. He was into more…umm…how do I put this nicely? More into women who liked to party and were…you know, a little bit 'easy'. He was always a gentleman with me. Probably always thought of me as John's little sister rather than a woman." Katie smiled. "John wasn't very receptive to me dating the guys at the ranch, well, any guy actually. A little overprotective I guess."
"Yeah, I think he'd probably be trying to kick my ass right now."
Katie laughed and shook her head. "Nah I think he'd be okay with this. I mean after all, you are protecting me like he asked."
"I don't think he meant for me to…well…you know…" Eliot stammered then signaled the com and she smiled.
"You didn't do anything I didn't want you to do so stop beating yourself up about it, okay? I am a grown woman. What I do with my body is my business and I'd set John straight about that if he were here." Katie kept her voice low so the others wouldn't hear. Hitting send on the email, she put down the laptop and pushed him back on the couch. She pulled up his shirt, letting her hands roam his muscular stomach and chest before she crawled forward to begin raining hot kisses on his neck.
"Katie," he whispered urgently, pointing to his ear with one hand and trying to pull his shirt back down. When she looked up, she smiled wickedly.
"I suggest you be quiet then. Besides I'm just going to play," she whispered before returning to what she was doing.
Unbuttoning his shirt, she explored his upper body with her hands and mouth. His breath hissed through his teeth when she bit down on one nipple so after releasing it, she ran her tongue around it.
His hands moved under her shirt as well. She smiled to herself when he unhooked her bra deftly, pushing the restraining garmet out of his way. Sitting up, she straddled him and allowed him to remove her shirt before she resumed her lazy exploration of his body.
Occasionally, he would talk to the crew, his voice a little distracted. She knew he needed to focus and she didn't want to interfere too much, so she made sure not to get carried away. Eliot sat up slightly and kissed her, his tongue diving into her mouth, hot and urgently. She held back a moan, afraid the others would hear her.
When he released her lips, she took a deep breath, looking into his eyes. The way he watched her sent a jolt of heat straight through her body. Leaning forward she whispered in his ear without the com, "Tonight, I want you to make love to me. But for now, I'll try to be good."
She grinned mischievously. He grasped her neck and kissed her again in a way that promised her that tonight was going to be quite a night. He was already hard, pressing tightly against her. Not wanting to tease him too much, but still wanting to be close to him, she refrained from moving against him as she kissed down his neck, her hands tangling in his hair. Tonight he had silver hoops in his ears and she pulled at one before biting teasingly on his earlobe.
"Fuck!" he exclaimed, sitting up quickly, catching her waist so she didn't fall off his lap. "Can't you get out?"
Katie furrowed her brow waiting for an explanation.
"Parker's stuck in his condo. Apparently he brought home a stripper or some bar slut," he growled.
"Good to know my money is being spent wisely," she remarked with irritation. "How will she get out?"
"She's in an air duct, she'll get out. Luckily she was done before he came home so we have a camera and some bugs there," Eliot explained.
"Yeah, let's wait to turn on the cameras until after he gets laid. I really don't want to see that." Katie climbed off him and got dressed, her mood totally ruined now. Eliot buttoned his shirt again, looking rather put out. She wasn't sure if he was annoyed with her or just the situation at the condo. He pulled her to sit between his legs and rest her back against his chest, kissing her quickly on the neck and wrapping an arm around her waist. She loved it when he held her. His arms, like almost everything about him, were muscular to the point of making her hot just looking at him. She was used to being around built cowboys but none quite like him. While he continued to monitor the coms, she flipped on the TV and zoned out to a football game on low volume just enjoying being so close to him.