Free Whenever You Come Around by Robin Lee Hatcher

Bridget said, “Tell me about the place where you grew up.”
    “Kings Meadow?”
    “Yes, describe it to me. Make me see it in my mind.”
    Charity rose from her chair and went to the window. From there, she saw several horses grazing in the pasture behind Buck’s house. “It’s a small town surrounded on all sides by mountains. The high valley where it’s set is shaped like a boomerang. It had fewer than three thousand residents when I graduated from high school. I doubt it’s grown any since then. There are pine trees all over the mountains. Lodge pole and ponderosa. The valley floor is the deep green of emeralds in June and spotted with colorful wildflowers. Most everybody here owns horses. Lots of cowboys and cowgirls wherever you look. Country music on most of the radios.”
    “Cowboys. They’re always popular in romance novels. They make good heroes, and I believe that the author finding the right hero is key to making everything else fall into place.”
    Charity gave her head a slow shake. She hadn’t hung out with anyone she would call a cowboy in over a decade. Not that she wouldn’t still love to ride horses or even attend a rodeo. She would. But her lifestyle didn’t allow for those things.
    “Why not write about someone you know? Or at least someone you could use as inspiration for the hero of your story.”
    Immediately she pictured Buck. Not on a scooter with casts on ankle and wrist, but as she’d seen him in the parking lot of the Merc before he fell. Despite all the reasons it shouldn’t, her heart fluttered at the image in her head. Boots, jeans, and cowboy hat. Tall and lean. A slow, lazy kind of smile. Brown eyes that conveyed an easy-going nature. Even more good-looking than he’d been in high school, she’d finally decided. Hero material for the taking.
    “Charity?”
    “Yes, I’m here.”
    “Do you know someone like that?”
    “Actually, yes. I do. He lives next door to my parents.” Charity wouldn’t mention that she’d had a serious teenage crush on him.
    “Is he a cowboy?”
    “A wilderness guide for four or five months of the year. A saddle maker in the winter.”
    “And is he nice? Is he likable?”
    “Yes.”
    “Handsome?”
    Another flutter in Charity’s chest. “Uh . . . yes. Most women would think so.”
    “Do you think so?” her editor pressed.
    She drew in a quick breath before answering, “Yes.”
    “Well then. Sounds like you have the inspiration for your hero. Now all you need is the right heroine and a difficult situation that threatens to keep them apart.”
    Bridget made it sound so easy. But it wasn’t easy. Wouldn’t be easy. Even with Buck as the blueprint for her hero.
    “Let’s keep brainstorming, Charity. I know you can do this. You’re a talented writer. We just need to get you over the hump. Can you use what you’ve already written with a new hero? Maybe a new setting? One that looks like Kings Meadow.”
    “I think so.” Charity returned to the desk, flipped open her notebook, and prepared to jot down whatever ideas she and Bridget came up with.

    More than an hour later, Charity pressed the End button and set the phone on the desk. Her head throbbed as her thoughts tumbled into a mixed-up mess. Cocoa whimpered at her from the doorway, and that was all Charity needed for an excuse to leave her desk and get outside for some fresh air. Hopefully she’d get enough fresh air to make the headache go away.
    “Let’s go, girl.”
    The morning was pleasant. Not too warm yet, although the temperature was climbing. The sky was an unbroken expanse of blue. Not a single cloud to be seen. Mistress and dog set off at a brisk pace down the road, heading east, away from town. Houses were few and far between. After the last one, there was nothing for another two miles on either side of the road but fenced pastures. Then the road came to an end. Horses dotted the land wherever she looked. Mixed in was the occasional cow or goat and even a couple of