H.P. Lovecraft said in the obituary he wrote for Howard in Weird Tales that the secret of the success of Howard as a story-teller is that he is in fact in every story he writes.
Look at Sailor Steve Costigan and Mike==Robert and Patch
Look at Beyond the Black River...that is the best example, Howard IS in the story, as the character of Balthus, along with his dog, Patch...aka
Slasher
In The Frost King's Daughter, Conan is chasing after Atali recklessly with no concern for personal safety and barely escapes without having his heart roasted on Ymir's " smoking board"
yeah, you find Howard in all of the stories, in on incarnation or another...hell, some have put forward the notion that Conan is actually very roughly modelled on his father...
but I don't want to spoil the good reading for you...look into it yourself
UncleRhino