Acquiring Trouble

through his bicep or the one that tore through his side. All he could see was the still, bloody heap of his brother lying lifeless on the gravely ground.
     
     
    *      *      *
     
    Miles' s eyes shot open as he woke up screaming. He sat up so quickly that he knocked the dog sitting beside him off the bed. He was wet, drenched in sweat. His throat was r aw from screaming in his sleep from another nightmare. He heard the dog whi mper and look nervously at him.
    "Did I scare you?"
    The dog stepped back from the bed and took a running jump to get onto it again. He nuzzled Miles' s arm and licked his face.
    "Oh, so this isn't all sweat. You were licking me, trying to wake me up, weren't you?"
    The dog thumped his tail and rested his head on Miles' s lap. Miles found himself calmed by the simple act of petting the dog. He looked over at the clock —t hree in the morning. Well, at least he got three and a half hours of sleep tonight. That was an hour more than yesterday.
    "Well, if you're going to stay with me you need a name," he said as he continued to pet the dog, feeling the adrenaline slowly leaving his system. It would take him a couple of hours to recover from this. "Bill. You look like a Bill." The dog thumped his tail in approval.
    Miles got out of bed and pulled on a pair of black boxer briefs. Bill followed him down the stairs and over the dark hardwood floor to the living room. Leaving the lights off , Miles took a seat in the leather chair and looked out the wall of windows at the farm. Bill curled up at his feet and was snoring within minutes. Miles settled in and waited for the sun to come up. He hadn't missed a sunrise since that day he rescued Cade.

 
Chapter Four
     
    Christmas Eve …
     
    Miles smiled as he dropped the signed contract for Jacks Hotel s in the mailbox. He had followed up with Katelyn’s father after Marshall and Katelyn had gotten engaged and had won the contract to supply food for restaurants in every Jacks Hotel . Miles was still in tight negotiati ons with the grocery chain over who would supply the fresh produce, but he was s ure with this new contract in hand he’d be able to best Top Producers and have Family Farms produce in the stores b y summer.
    Miles hadn’t heard a word from Morgan and had actually managed to forget about her long enough to realize he wasn’t thinking of her. It was a vicious cy cle that he was hoping to end with his trip to Ge rmany. He was on his way to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio to catch a cargo transport to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. He had boxes and boxes of Christmas gifts to give to the wounded soldiers that his farmers and the townspeople of Keeneston had put together.
    He hadn’t been to Ramstein since he was a patient there. Mile s didn’t know how he’d handle going back , but he knew how those soldiers felt being injured and so far from loved ones. When his old commander told him donations were down this year, he knew he had to act. His sister, Paige , and sister-in-law, Annie , assured him the babies weren’t due until after Christmas so he had agreed to go. He just hoped he didn’t m iss too much while he was gone.
     
    Morgan placed the final report on Family Farms on David’s desk and waited for him to look up. It was Christmas Eve and she had come in on her day off to finish up the report. She had turned over every stone, looked behind every filing, and used up every favor she had to find out more about Miles’ s company. And she had found it. It was all sitting there in the file on David’s desk.
    “So, what do you think?”
    “Family Farms is stable, growing, and a very sound investment. I’d purchase it in a heartbeat. It could easily turn into the most profitable acquisition Top Producers has ever made .” If she wasn’t trying to take the company over, she’d have told David how proud she was of what Miles built. He was running a very successful company that was doing we ll for the farmers of Kentucky.
    “Good. I’ll look over it. Get to Kentucky as soon as the holidays are over and start working on the acquisition .” David pushed the file aside and Morgan r ealized she had been dismissed.
    She glanced down at her watch and realized if she hurried she could reach the airport in time to catch her flight for her vacation. She was just happy she could finally take a break. It had been a year since her last day off and she liked to do anything she could to forget about work over the