Free Love Inspired August 2014 – Bundle 1 of 2 by Allie Pleiter and Jessica Keller Ruth Logan Herne Page A

process.”
    “I love history, fact and fiction,” Liv admitted. “Austen, Brontë, Alcott. I look
     at the early women novelists and there’s a part of me that wishes I could see romance
     and life the way they did.”
    Robin laughed out loud. “Washing clothes in wooden tubs and wringing them out by hand
     while stringing green beans into ‘leather britches’?”
    “Those images do take the sheen off the romance,” Liv admitted. She was about to say
     something else, when Chauncey stepped into the room, a hand braced on one broad hip
     while her other held a pointer finger to her lips.
    “A library, ladies, not a coffee shop. Whisper, please.”
    Liv peeked around the corner, then faced Chauncey. “But there’s no one else here,
     Mrs. Hardman.”
    “That doesn’t mean someone couldn’t walk in that door at any moment, young lady. Rules
     are rules.” She waggled two thick eyebrows at the younger women, and while she didn’t
     look exactly displeased, Liv was pretty sure her demeanor meant “conversation: over.”
     She turned to face Robin again. “Do you want to talk about the Jasper Gulch history
     some more? The diner’s open around the corner.”
    “I’d love it.” Robin began to hoist the heavy history volume, but Chauncey tsk-tsked
     that idea.
    “I’ll do it, I’ve got it, don’t trouble yourself. These old volumes take a special
     touch.” She clapped the book shut and placed it on the shelf with a firm thump that
     meant business. “Anytime you need one of those specials, you ring me. I’ll be glad
     to get it for you. If I’m not busy, of course.”
    “Of course.” Robin smiled at the older woman and didn’t seem put off by Chauncey’s
     gruff manner. “Lovers of history must stick together.”
    Chauncey beamed a smile on her that included Liv as they moved to the door, and Liv
     was pretty sure she’d taken a firm step up in the librarian’s estimation, just because
     Robin smiled at the right time. A good lesson to learn when dealing with die-hard
     residents of Jasper Gulch. And not such a difficult one to follow.
    “Should we drive over or leave the cars here?” Robin wondered as they moved down the
     three steps to the short sidewalk linking the asphalt lot to the Western-style library.
    “We can leave them. It’s hot, but it’s a short walk. Oh.” Liv followed the direction
     of Robin’s gaze to the long chain wrapped around a thick, metal pole at the parking
     lot entrance. “You think Chauncey’s going to close that gate, right?”
    “I assumed so, at closing time. I take it she’s not going to do that?”
    Liv grinned and set off for Main Street, and as they passed the chain she pointed
     north. “Chauncey Hardman only closes this parking lot during the rodeo and round-up
     weekends. She says she won’t have any foul beasts contaminating her lot with their
     droppings so when there are horses and trailers moving around the business district,
     Chauncey puts up her chain.”
    “But it’s asphalt.” Robin looked at the small lot and then back to Liv. “Couldn’t
     it just be rinsed off with a hose? Horses are a part of life in Jasper Gulch, right?”
    “As much as anything else, yes. But Chauncey’s mother rode off with a rodeo rider
     about fifty years ago and never looked back. Chauncey’s had nothing to do with horses
     ever since.”
    “But she stayed.” Robin’s expression said something didn’t compute. “She stayed in
     a place that’s surrounded by horses and cattle ranches. That doesn’t make sense.”
    “It does if you love Big Sky country. And Chauncey Hardman, for all her idiosyncrasies,
     loves Montana, heart and soul. She does the greatest history exhibit in the fall and
     a living-history pageant every spring in the park. I think I fell in love with history
     listening to Chauncey weave stories when I was a kid, but I know better than to ask
     her about horses...”
    “Duly noted,” Robin said with a laugh.
    “And to talk