Page 15 of Promised to the Cowboy

“You say that like it’s unusual around here.”

That earns me a real smile.

I look back across the yard. “How does it work?”

“They live on the ranch if they need to. Work if they’re able. Some stay a few months. Some a few years.” He watches Wire laugh at something Falcon says. “Some never leave.”

My chest warms unexpectedly. “They don’t have to earn it?”

“They already did. They served. They needed somewhere safe. That’s enough.”

I watch Falcon stop to scratch behind a blue heeler’s ears before heading toward the barn. “And Stoneridge?”

“We’ve just started expanding the program here.” Pride slips quietly into Gabriel’s voice. “Daniel and Delaney run this side of it now. Building more cabins.”

I smile. “No wonder everyone here looks like they could bench-press my truck.”

“They probably could.”

“I was hoping you were going to tell me they just eat a lot of protein.”

He huffs a laugh as he glances toward the men. “They found a place that gave them a reason to get up again.”

My gaze moves past the cabins toward the far side of the property, where a massive steel building rises beyond the trees.

It’s too big to be a barn. Corrugated metal walls, wide doors, a curved roof high enough to swallow the house whole.

“What the heck is that?”

Gabriel follows my gaze. “Hangar.”

I look at him. “You have an airplane?”

“Helicopter.”

Of course they do.

I turn farther on the tailgate so I can see the building properly. “Why does a ranch need a helicopter?”

“It doesn’t.”

“That clears it up.”

His mouth twitches. “My father keeps it.”

“Jacob flies?”

“Naval aviation.” Gabriel takes a drink of coffee. “He started out as a SEAL. Transferred later. Learned to fly and never stopped.”

I look back at the enormous hangar. “Does he use it?”

“Not much anymore.” Gabriel’s voice changes slightly. Not colder. More careful. “Mostly tinkers with it. Takes it up every so often to keep everything running.”

Something in the way he looks at the building tells me the helicopter belongs to an older part of Jacob Sutton’s life. One none of them talks about unless someone asks directly.

“So your father keeps a military helicopter in a giant steel shed and occasionally takes it out for a spin.”

“It isn’t military now.”