Rogue: The Sons of Dusty Walker Read online

  ROGUE

  THE SONS OF

  DUSTY WALKER

  By

  Sable Hunter

  A loner by choice and a renegade by nature.

  Rogue is living up to his name. He’s lived life on his own terms, doing everything from team-roping in college, Texas Hold ‘em champion to founding his own company, Lone Wolf Oil.

  Everything he’s accomplished has been in spite of Dusty Walker, a man who sired four sons by four women – none of them his wife. Rogue might be following in his father’s footsteps, but he is nothing like his father.

  And he never will be if he can help it.

  When he flies to Kansas for the reading of Dusty’s will, three brothers and a quarter interest in a half-billion dollar business aren’t all he finds…Rogue feels like he’s been hit by a tornado after he walks into a room and finds a woman in his bed. Not just any woman, either…

  The last time he saw Kit Ross, she was racing off in her truck leaving him naked and hard by the side of the road. Of course, he deserved it; he’d hurt her. To say she wasn’t happy to see him was an understatement. And when he wins her ranch with a good poker hand, the game is on.

  It’s not just poker that’s being played. They can’t keep their hands off one another. Rogue doesn’t know if he has room in his life for family and love. He doesn’t know if he can be trusted with people’s hearts and happiness. What if he’s more like Dusty Walker than he ever knew?

  The Sons of Dusty Walker. Four brothers – one tainted legacy and a wild, wild ride.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Rogue: The Sons of Dusty Walker

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright 2015 © Sable Hunter

  Ebook:

  ISBN-10: 1942213158

  ISBN-13: 978-1-942213-15-4

  Published by Beau Coup Publishing

  http://beaucoupllcpublishing.com

  Cover by Diana Carlile

  Wild Rose Designs

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

  PROLOGUE

  Rogue Walker stood outside the attorney’s office in Red Creek, Kansas and debated the wisdom of going in. Sometimes leaving a door closed was the smartest thing to do.

  “Excuse me.” A deep, somewhat familiar voice sounded behind him.

  Rogue stepped aside. “Sorry.” When his gaze fell on the man reaching for the same doorknob he’d been staring at, he almost dropped his dress Stetson. WTF? Their eyes met and it was like looking in a mirror.

  The two men stopped and stared at one another for a moment. His doppelgänger had the same befuddled expression Rogue knew he wore on his own face. “You look like some really handsome guy I’ve seen before,” the stranger drawled with a smirk.

  Rogue chuckled. “No shit.”

  For him, the plot thickened. This whole trip was a mystery. His counterpart went on in, being greeted by someone Rogue couldn’t see from where he stood. Curiosity got the better of him. He took a deep breath and crossed the threshold, feeling like he was stepping through the looking glass.

  “Rogue, welcome!” An older bespectacled gentleman stepped forward and offered his hand. “We were waiting for the two of you. Come in and have a seat.”

  Stanley Benner was the attorney for his father, the late Dusty Walker. Just thinking Dusty’s name made Rogue angry. This whole thing was fucked-up as far as he was concerned. Apparently his look-alike was a cousin of some sort here for the reading of the will. Rogue expected to have relatives he’d never had the chance to meet, but this was surreal.

  As he walked into the inner office, Rogue felt like he was stepping back in time. A big dark mahogany desk dominated the room and a wall of bookshelves provided a backdrop. He waved away a cloud of smoke wafting from a cigar smoldering in a crystal ashtray. When his vision adjusted Rogue froze, not believing what his eyes were seeing.

  Three men sat in front of Benner’s carved desk. Three identical men—identical to Rogue except for eye and hair color. “I can’t wait to hear this story,” Rogue muttered under his breath.

  Taking his chair, Rogue placed one booted foot on his knee and waited - impatiently. Something told him his life would never be the same.

  “Thank you all for coming, your father was very specific in his instructions.”

  It took a second for the words to sink in. Brothers? He had brothers? Obviously the others were as dumbstruck as Rogue. They sat there like four penguins in their similar dark suits and striped ties, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  The gray-haired lawyer unbuttoned his black suit coat, leaned forward and pushed his gold wire-rimmed glasses up on his hawk nose and shook his head. “Incredible likeness. Your father never mentioned it.”

  Rogue thought Dusty had failed to mention quite a few things. He ran a finger under his tight collar, wishing he was in a poker game or back in Texas—anywhere but where he was at the moment. Picking up the manila folder, Rogue began leafing through it and what he saw confounded him. These men were indeed his brothers, each from a different part of the country. As the knowledge sank in, his stomach rolled. Dusty was as bad as those polygamists he’d seen on television, only he hadn’t possessed the decency to marry his mother or any of the other three women. And to think his sweet mother had loved the son-of-a-bitch.

  The elderly lawyer began to talk and Rogue half-listened, the facts Benner laid out were practically unbelievable.

  “Are we quadruplets? Were we separated at birth?” The one named Killian sat forward in his chair.

  The attorney shook his head again. “Absolutely not. Each of you is your mother’s biological son. You are each about a year apart in age. Mr. Walker…uh…Killian.”

  Another of the bothers, Jackson, barked out a laugh. Since they were all four Mr. Walker, the man had to take a different approach.

  “Killian, you’re the oldest at twenty-seven, and Dylan, you’re the youngest. Your father must have a very strong DNA strand to have produced four men who look so similar.”

  Besides different eye and hair color, their faces and bodies could have been stamped from the same mold.

  “When I arrived at each of your homes last week with the bad news that your father had passed away, I was under strict instructions not to mention that you had brothers. It was among your father’s last wishes that you learn of your siblings’ existence in person.” The attorney picked up another sheaf of papers. “I apologize for bringing you to Kansas under these circumstances.”

  Rogue sat silent, taking it all in. Now, everything made sense. His mind flashed back to the moment when Benner had broken the news of Dusty’s death, how he’d held his mother while she cried. She’d begged to come to his funeral, only to be told it had already taken place—just one more thing Dusty had robbed her of. He’d agreed to come, making use of the private plane from Austin and the limo that had picked him up and brought him here to this podunk law firm in central Kansas. But now that he was here, he was angrier than he’d been before.

  The attorney shook the papers in his hand. “So, if there are no further questions, I’ll begin.” He waited a few seconds, meeting each of their
gazes.

  “Yeah, I’ve got one.” Rogue looked at his brothers, wondering what in the hell they were all thinking. “How did he…?” He held up a hand. “Let me rephrase that. Why? Why four families in four different states?”

  The lawyer tossed the papers on the desk and laced his fingers together. “Your father wanted to have children, and he confided to me that his wife didn’t want them. This broke his heart.”

  “So he went around looking for incubators?” Killian spat out.

  “That’s a little disrespectful,” Benner chided.

  “You’re calling me disrespectful?” Killian made a rude noise. “I’d say your client is the one lacking in social graces.”

  “She knew about all of us?” Dylan frowned. “His wife, I mean?”

  “No, she did not.” Benner’s cheeks turned ruddy. “And I was sworn to silence under attorney/client privilege. I’m assuming your mothers made you aware of your father’s marital situation?”

  Rogue sneered. His mother had protected him or that’s what she thought she’d been doing. But he kept his thoughts to himself. One of the other men cleared his throat, but no one spoke. Running the tips of his fingers over the rim of his black cowboy hat, Rogue tried to make sense of the situation. Brothers? Just the idea that he had family was alien to him. Like his name implied, he preferred to work alone. Dusty hadn’t been around enough to earn the title of father as far as he was concerned. His mother should’ve let go of her dream and moved on years ago. At least now he knew why his father had spent very few weeks with them every year. The man not only had had a wife, but four other families to split his life with.

  When he’d been around, Dusty had done his best to teach Rogue what he called the family business. Rogue had watched his father pore over contracts for regional mineral rights, rode with him while he surveyed land and listened as he interpreted tests to determine if there was value in the acreage he was considering. Rogue had taken the lessons to heart and later used them to his advantage in the oil business, acquiring some land and sinking a few exploratory wells. One of these days it was going to pay off—big time. Hopefully sooner than later.

  The attorney rattled the papers in his hand. “Dusty and his wife, Theresa, were killed in an auto accident. We were told they died instantly.” He looked from one to the other. “So in the interest of time, I’ll read the highlights of the will. The entire document is in the folders I placed in front of you.” The attorney cleared his throat and read for a quarter of an hour. The details included a grocery list of assets: a mineral and water rights company that boasted assets near five-hundred million dollars, including a private ten-person jet, a storefront in the small town of Red Creek, Kansas, as well as a big house on the outskirts of town.

  The brothers sat in silence, listening.

  “Of course, there are also the houses in the four compass points of the US. In the north, Montana, where Killian resides. Texas, from where Rogue hails. Dylan, of course, from Nashville and Jackson, from Oregon.” The brothers looked at each other, then back at the lawyer. “These houses are currently company property, but your father notes that you four, as the new owners of D. Walker Mineral, can opt to transfer the homes into your mothers’—”

  “Hang on.” Dylan stiffened. “You’re saying he left the company to us?”

  “Yes, of course.” Benner looked surprised. “I didn’t read that portion of the will because I assumed…” He hefted out a sigh. “The company is now legally in your names, exactly one quarter going to each.”

  Dylan let out a long, low whistle.

  Rogue sat forward. Had he heard right? Five hundred million dollars divided by four…was a shit load of money. Thinking back on how he’d spent his childhood and what his mother had gone through… Instead of making him happy, the news just pissed him off. He didn’t know if he wanted to be associated with anything belonging to the late Dusty Walker.

  Apparently, he wasn’t the only one.

  “So, if we sell our quarter?” Jackson said the words slowly.

  “There are repercussions.” The attorney flipped pages. “Ah, here. ‘Heretofore, the parties to which—”

  “In plain English, please,” Killian spat out.

  “Of course.” The man set down the papers again and reclined back in his chair, placing one hand on his round belly. “The company is essentially frozen as-is for a full year. After that time, if one of you wants to sell, the others have the option of buying you out at half-worth.”

  “Half-worth?” Rogue fisted his hand, not liking the idea. There was always a catch. “Meaning they’d buy me out at a fifty-percent discount?”

  “Yes, that’s correct. Your father wanted to keep the company in the family. Wanted you four boys to run it together.”

  “I can wait a year,” Jackson drawled. “I’ve got savings, money to get me to rodeos and pay my entry fees. I expect to win some during the season too. But hell, no matter what Dusty wanted, there’s no room in my life for small-town Kansas and an eight-to-five job. I’ll probably be the first to sell my quarter of the company.”

  Benner attempted a smile. “However, you are each officially on the payroll and your first paychecks will be cut the day you successfully complete the one…” He swallowed, then cleared his throat. “Stipulation in the will.”

  All four of them leaned an inch closer.

  “Stipulation?” Dylan prodded.

  “To inherit, you must spend a week in Red Creek, working in your father’s office, learning more about the business, sharing with each other what you’ve learned from your father over the years. You must also reside for that week at your father’s house—your house—on Osprey Lake.”

  “A week?” Jackson shook his head. “What’s the timeframe here? Anytime in the next year?”

  Rogue slapped open his folder and pulled out his copy of the will. “What section is that in?” He had his own business to run, he didn’t know if he had time for this shit.

  “Second from the last page. You’ll see that there’s a thirty day time limit.” The attorney checked his calendar. “Today is August second. You’ll need to decide which week in August works for all four of you, and plan to be back here then. Or if this week works…” He shrugged.

  Killian tapped his fingertips on his knee. “Dad wants the four of us to live in the same house and work in the same office for an entire week?”

  “Like summer camp for the bastard sons of Dusty Walker.” Dylan mumbled a curse.

  Jackson rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. “What the fuck was he thinking?”

  Rogue kept reading silently. He was ready to get out of here. Turning a page, he glanced at the clock on the wall. The game was at six and he didn’t want to be late. When the lawyer informed him he needed to come to Kansas for the reading of the will, he’d called his friend in Wichita and told him to set something up close by. No use wasting an opportunity to play poker when there were fools ready for him to take money off their hands.

  Benner’s face turned a dark shade of red. “He loved each one of you, I know that because he took great pains to create provisions to make sure you were taken care of after his death, as you were while he was alive.”

  Sure, Rogue thought, he felt about as loved as a stray dog. “Listen here.” Rogue stared at the will. “It says we each have to spend a week, but it doesn’t say it has to be the same week.”

  “No, it…uh…what…?” The attorney sat forward and flipped through his paperwork.

  “I say we each take a week, get this goddamn stipulation out of the way and figure out the rest later.” Rogue looked at his brothers. “Agreed?”

  “Yeah. Okay.” Dylan accessed his phone. “I can stay this week. I got nothin’ goin’ on.”

  Jackson grabbed his folder. “I can do the week after.”

  Killian rose. “Sure, I’ll do the third week.”

  “That leaves week four for me.” Rogue stood and tucked the folder under his arm.

  “Now wait, bo
ys.” The lawyer stood, still staring at his copy of the will as Jackson and Dylan got to their feet. “Your father wanted you all to be here together. At the same time. To get to know one another.”

  Rogue hid a sneer. Yea, he’d get to know them. He planned on asking Zane to look into his so-called brothers. Trusting people wasn’t his strong-suit.

  The brothers stood in a half-circle, their eyes dropping to the belt buckle each of them wore. The exact same Western belt buckle.

  “Am I seeing things?” Jackson asked.

  Killian looked down at his waist. “Son-of-a-bitch. I can’t believe this. They’re all alike.”

  “That’s kinda fucked-up, huh?” One side of Dylan’s mouth curved up. “The old man gave us the same belt buckle, like we’d use them to somehow magically find each other.”

  Jackson looked as if he wanted to fling the buckle into the nearest lake and watch it sink – Rogue understood the feeling. The room went silent and in a few seconds, almost as one, they all turned toward the door.

  “Wait.” The attorney raced around his desk and stood in front of the men. “Your father’s wish was to have you spend this time together.” His hands fluttered like he didn’t know what to do next.

  “Well then…” Killian patted Benner’s shoulder as he strode past him. “I guess he should’ve had his lawyer write that into the will.”

  Jackson bit back a grin.

  As far as Rogue was concerned, they were strangers—and he, for one, would prefer it to stay that way.

  Dylan gave the others a trigger finger salute and headed out the door.

  Rogue wasn’t far behind. All he could think about was how fucked-up this was—four brothers, one tainted legacy.

  Let the games begin.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “To the airport, sir?” the middle-aged limo driver asked perfunctorily, his eye on the road.