Whenever You Come Around Read online

  Acclaim for Robin Lee Hatcher

  “Robin Lee Hatcher weaves a romance with heart that grabs readers and won’t let go. Whenever You Come Around pulled me in from the get-go. Charity Anderson, a beautiful, successful author with a deadline and a painful secret, runs into Buck Malone, a handsome, confirmed-bachelor, cowboy from her past, and he needs her help. I was captivated, and I guarantee you’ll be rooting for them, too.”

  — Sunni Jeffers, award-winning author of Heaven’s Strain

  “A heartwarming and engaging romance, Whenever You Come Around is a splendid read from start to finish!”

  — Tamera Alexander, USA Today bestselling author of To Whisper Her Name and From a Distance

  “A handsome cowboy, horses, and a hurting heroine make for a winning combination in this newest poignant story by Robin Lee Hatcher. A gently paced but delightful ride, Whenever You Come Around will take readers on a journey of healing right along with the characters. Readers will feel at home in Kings Meadow and won’t want to leave.”

  — Jody Hedlund, bestselling author of Love Unexpected

  “First loves find sweet second chances in King’s Meadow. Heartwarming, romantic, and filled with hope and faith, this is Hatcher at her best!”

  — Lisa Wingate, National bestselling author of The Story Keeper and The Prayer Box

  “In Whenever You Come Around Hatcher takes a look at the pain of secrets that kill the heart. But love indeed conquers all. Robin Lee Hatcher is the go-to classic romance author.”

  — Rachel Hauck, Award winning, bestselling author of The Wedding Dress

  “Robin Lee Hatcher has created an emotionally engaging romance, a story of healing and self forgiveness wrapped up in a package about small town life and a cowboy who lives a life honoring God. I want to live in King’s Meadow.”

  — Sharon Dunn, author of Cold Case Justice and Wilderness Target

  “Whenever You Come Around draws you into the beauty and history of the horse country of King’s Meadow, Idaho. With every turn of the page, Robin Lee Hatcher woos readers with a love story of a modern-day cowboy and a city girl. Buck and Charity rescue each other from the lives they had planned—lives limited by fear. Instead, they discover their unexpected God-ordained happily ever after. A discerning writer, Hatcher handles Charity’s past heartbreak with sensitivity and grace.”

  — Beth K. Vogt, author of Somebody Like You, one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014

  “Whenever You Come Around is one of Robin Lee Hatcher’s pure-romance best, with a heroine waiting for total redemption and a strong hero of great worth. I find myself still smiling long after the final page has been read.”

  — Hannah Alexander, author of the Hallowed Halls series

  “Whenever You Come Around is a slow dance of letting go of the past and its very real pain to step into the light of love. It’s a story that will wrap around your soul with the hope that no past is so dark and haunted that it can’t be forgiven and overcome. It’s a love story filled with sweetness, tension, and slow fireworks. Bottom line, it was a romance I couldn’t—and didn’t want to—put down.”

  — Cara Putman, award-winning author of Shadowed by Grace and Where Treetops Glisten

  “In Love Without End, Robin Lee Hatcher once again takes us to Kings Meadow, Idaho in a sweeping love story that captures the heart and soul of romance between two people who have every reason not to fall in love. With an interesting backstory interspersed among the contemporary chapters, and well-drawn, relatable secondary characters, Hatcher hits the mark with her warm and inviting love story.”

  — Martha Rogers, author of the series, Winds Across the Prairie and The Journey Homeward

  “Love Without End, the first book in the new Kings Meadow Romance series, again intertwines two beautiful and heartfelt romances. One in the past and one in the future together make this a special read. I’m so glad Robin wrote a love story for Chet who suffered so much in A Promise Kept (January 2014). Kimberly, so wrong for him, becomes so right. Not your run of the mill cowboy romance—enriched with the deft writing and deep emotion.”

  — Lyn Cote, author of Honor, first in the Quaker Bride series

  “No one writes about the joys and challenges of family life better than Robin Lee Hatcher and she’s at the top of her game with Love Without End. This beautiful and deeply moving story will capture your heart as it captured mine.”

  — Margaret Brownley, NY Times bestselling author

  “Love Without End, Book One in Robin Lee Hatcher’s new Kings Meadow series, is a delight from start to finish. The author’s skill at depicting the love and challenges of family has never been more evident as she deftly combines two love stories—past and present—to capture readers’ hearts and lift their spirits.”

  — Marta Perry, author of The Forgiven, Keepers of the Promise, Book One

  “I always expect excellence when I open a Robin Lee Hatcher novel. She never disappoints. The story here reminds me of a circle without end as Robin takes us through a modern day romance while looping one character through a WWII tale of love and loss and the resurrection of hope and purpose. Love Without End touched my heart and guided me to some wonderful truths of how God’s love is a gift and a treasure.”

  — Donita K. Paul, bestselling author

  “A beautiful, heart-touching story of God’s amazing grace, and how He can restore and make new that which was lost.”

  — Francine Rivers, New York Times bestselling author, regarding A Promise Kept

  Other Novels by Robin Lee Hatcher

  KINGS MEADOW ROMANCE SERIES

  Love Without End

  Whenever You Come Around

  Keeper of the Stars (Available November 2015)

  WHERE THE HEART LIVES SERIES

  Beloved

  Betrayal

  Belonging

  THE SISTERS OF BETHLEHEM SPRINGS SERIES

  A Matter of Character

  Fit to Be Tied

  A Vote of Confidence

  A Promise Kept

  Heart of Gold

  Autumn’s Angel,

  a novella found in A Bride for All Seasons

  Copyright © 2015 by Robin Lee Hatcher

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8770-0 (eBook)

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Hatcher, Robin Lee.

  Whenever you come around / Robin Lee Hatcher.

  pages ; cm. — (A King’s Meadow romance ; 2)

  Summary: “Just when Charity’s wild imagination failed her, a flesh-and-blood hero walked into her life. Best-selling author Charity Anderson returns to her hometown of Kings Meadow to defeat a bad case of writer’s block. She imagines she’ll spend a lonely summer writing and then return to her home in Boise. She soon finds herself caring for Buck Malone, a wilderness guide — and the object of her unrequ
ited teenage crush. But what else can she do? Her dog Cocoa caused the accident that left Buck with a broken ankle and wrist, taking him off the trail for weeks of prime tourist-season work. Buck and Charity have gone different ways since high school, and at first it seems they have little in common. Buck loves the simple, low-key life he’s made for himself in the mountains of Idaho, and she’s a woman accustomed to the faster, bustling pace of the city. But spending so much time together has Buck hoping to change her mind about staying in the small town she thought she’d left behind for good. It’s a summer for discovering that young love is a spark not soon extinguished”— Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8769-4 (softcover)

  1. First loves—Fiction. 2. Man-woman relationships—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3558.A73574W475 2015

  813’.54—dc23

  2014044614

  15 16 17 18 19 20 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

  To Jerry, with love.

  Contents

  Official Web Site of Kings Meadow, Idaho

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Reading Group Guide

  A Letter from the Author

  About the Author

  OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF KINGS MEADOW, IDAHO

  KINGS MEADOW WELCOMES YOU.

  Tucked away in the mountains north of Boise, Idaho, Kings Meadow (population 2,893) is rich in history. The first white man to enter this valley was a miner named John Leonard. Having failed to find his fortune panning for gold, he chose to raise cattle, knowing that the men and women pouring into the Boise Basin in search of wealth needed to eat and would want his beef. The year was 1864. The Leonards have continued to ranch in this valley for the past 150+ years, raising beef cattle well into the twentieth century. Now the ranch is renowned for its champion quarter horses.

  One of the local legends was a man by the name of Zeb McHenry who also came to Idaho Territory in the early days of the Boise Basin Gold Rush. Little is known about him after he left the area in 1865. However, it was McHenry who introduced this lush, green valley and the cattle raised by John Leonard to the miners in the Boise Basin. Hikers and horseback riders can still see the remains of McHenry’s cabin and sluice box.

  In 1866, the town of Kings Meadow was founded on the south-west end of the valley. Folklore says the name “Kings” was chosen because of an unfinished chess game between John Leonard and Zeb McHenry.

  Residents and visitors love the beauty of nature that surrounds the valley during the summer and winter. Pine-covered mountains rise to about 7,000 feet above sea level on all sides. Hot springs abound. The tranquil Gold Queen River winds its way from east to west; after leaving the valley, it merges with the South Fork of the Payette River, famous for its whitewater. Wildlife is abundant.

  In Kings Meadow, horses can still be found tied up outside the local watering holes, and formal attire for weddings may include boots and cowboy hats.

  Come and visit us. We’ll make you feel at home.

  Chapter 1

  CHARITY ANDERSON PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY OF her parents’ home early on a Wednesday morning. The wood shutters were closed over all the main-floor windows. Her parents might as well have put up a sign: Owners Away! Help Yourselves! Then again, this was Kings Meadow. Neighbors looked out for neighbors and their property. It wasn’t like in the city where you could live next door to people for a decade and not even know their names.

  Taking a deep breath, she exited her automobile. Cocoa, her brindle-colored dog—a Heinz 57 mixed breed with a stocky body and short coat—jumped out right behind her and began to sniff around.

  “Your nose must think it’s in heaven.” Charity headed for the front door. “Come on, girl. Let’s check things out.”

  The calendar said June, but the cold, dreary interior of the darkened house felt more like February. The first thing Charity did was turn up the thermostat to get some heat pumping into the rooms. The next was to open all of the shutters to let in the light.

  “Well now, that helps. Doesn’t seem quite as desolate, does it?”

  She stopped a moment and looked around, realizing it was the first time she’d ever stayed here by herself. It would feel strange without either her parents or her older sister, Terri, for company. Their parents were on a three-month tour of Europe and the Mediterranean. “The trip of a lifetime,” her mom had called it. “We’re finally going.” Her parents had scrimped and saved for the extended tour for the last thirty-five years.

  As for Terri, she lived with her husband and daughter near Sun Valley, close to a three-hour drive from Kings Meadow. Charity didn’t expect to see much of her over the summer.

  “Well, I’m not in Kings Meadow for visiting, anyway,” she said to Cocoa, who was exploring the house as if she’d never been in it before. “I guess you haven’t been here often. Have you, girl?”

  A desperate need for solitude and silence had brought Charity to Kings Meadow. Her Victorian-era home on the Boise River—the one she’d bought several years earlier because of its charm and interesting floor plan—had been flooded this spring when the river overflowed its banks. The water damage had been serious enough, but the cleanup had also revealed significant structural issues that would require months of remodeling work.

  Maybe you shouldn’t have bought the place without getting another inspection. Maybe you shouldn’t make snap decisions all the time. Maybe if you’d follow Mom’s advice every now and then . . .

  “I’m trying,” she whispered, “but it isn’t easy.”

  Setting her jaw, she threw off her troubled thoughts and headed up the stairs. The second-floor bedroom she’d shared with her sister up until Terri got married—right out of high school—hadn’t changed much. It still bore many of the traces of teenaged girls—possessions Terri and Charity hadn’t wanted to take with them when they moved out, things their mother had been unable to get rid of.

  She picked up a glass figurine from the nightstand and turned it over in the palm of her hand. She’d won the crystal horse at the fair the summer before her senior year. The whole family had been there that night—Mom and Dad; Terri and her husband, Rick, and their new baby; and Charity. She remembered the lights from the carnival rides, the loud music, the smells of hamburgers, grilled onions, and chorizos along Food Row, and the laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.

  The pleasant memories made Charity smile as she unpacked her suitcases, placing some clothes in the old chest of drawers and hanging other items in the closet. There wasn’t a lot of room in the latter. It had become a storage area for whatever size clothes her mother couldn’t fit into at present.

  When Charity’s suitcases were emptied at last, she stowed them under her old bed. As she straightened, she looked out the window . . . and saw Buck Malone exit the house next door.

  Buck Malone.

  Her heart gave a crazy and unexpected flutter. She hadn’t seen Buck in ages. Not even from a distance. But her old high school classmate—and secret heartthrob—was just as drop-dead gorgeous as he’d ever been. Perhaps more so. His shoulders were broader, and he looked taller too. Was he taller or was it a figment of her imagination?

  Stop it, she mentally berated herself. It didn’t matter. Buck was no one to her now. Just someone from her distant past. One of many someones from her distant past.

  She watched him get into an old beater
truck. The engine started, and in moments he’d pulled out of the driveway. Only after he was out of sight did she realize she’d begun to shake. Something dark and familiar lurked in her memory, and it took all of her resolve to block it out again. Weak in the knees, she sank onto the edge of the bed.

  Breathe. Just breathe. It’s all right. You’re okay. You’re safe.

  Bit by bit, she willed her trembling hands to still, her heart to calm. These terrible feelings, these black thoughts and feared memories, were why she avoided coming home as much as possible. They were why she’d cut herself off from lifelong friends, why she’d erected barriers between herself and the people she loved. She hated the sense of being emotionally out of control. Better to stay away from Kings Meadow than to feel this way.

  Only she didn’t have a choice right now. Not really. Not with her house in complete disarray—hammers hammering, saws sawing, drills drilling for nine hours or more every day. Not with a book due all too soon at her publishers. Her parents’ empty home had been the perfect and only logical answer to her dilemma.

  She drew in another deep breath through her nose. Better. Much better. The shaking had stopped. Her pulse no longer raced. She could do this.

  Rising from the bed, she saw Cocoa seated in the bedroom doorway, watching her with a patient gaze. “Guess we’d better think about stocking the refrigerator so we don’t go hungry. Let’s go to the store.”

  Her dog knew what “Let’s go” meant. Cocoa raced down the stairs and danced around impatiently until Charity caught up with her, purse slung over her shoulder. When Charity opened the door, the dog dashed outside and sniffed around the yard a bit before meeting her at the car.

  Gazing fondly at the panting animal, Charity chuckled. “You’re a silly girl, aren’t you?” She leaned over and affectionately scrubbed behind the dog’s ears. With a groan, Cocoa melted against her leg.

  Charity’s heart melted too. She loved this dog more than she’d thought possible. She’d rescued Cocoa from the shelter when she was an awkward-looking pup of about eight months old. Charity had been told the puppy was to be destroyed in three more days if no one adopted her. Maybe the girl at the shelter had known a soft touch when she saw one or maybe she’d spoken the truth. Whatever. Charity had left the shelter with Cocoa on a leash. She’d never been sorry for it either. The dog might not be beautiful in show terms—she was definitely not a purebred anything and part of her right ear had been torn off in a fight at the shelter—but she was smart as a whip and loved her mistress as much as Charity loved her. One-dog woman had met one-woman dog.