Intimate Love #15

Melody Collins lands a job as secretary at Chase-Harvey Music Publishers, hoping to reignite her father's songwriting career—a man whose gift once made him famous before heartbreak silenced his pen. When she meets Ned Farraday, an eager young songwriter seeking his big break, she's drawn to his dreams and charm, and begins helping him pitch his work to her boss. As Ned's prospects brighten and romance blooms between them, Melody must contend with the arrival of Kit Mason, a glamorous torch singer who becomes central to Ned's path to success—and to her growing doubts.

A young woman in town makes a point of dating freely rather than going steady—until she meets Grant Cummings, the most sought-after boy in Mayfield, who shares her philosophy about keeping things casual. As they spend time together and her feelings deepen, she watches him dance with other girls at the senior prom and realizes she's fallen for someone who values his independence as much as she once did.

When Ellen Handley meets the charming Joe Nesbit on a train to St. Louis, she can't resist embellishing her modest life—inventing a glamorous job and wealthy family rather than admit she's a shop worker living in a cramped flat. The chemistry between them is undeniable, but when Joe tracks her down weeks later and demands honesty, Ellen's shame and fear of losing him boil over into anger and rejection. Now she's caught between the love she can't deny and the truth about herself she's too ashamed to reveal.

A look at how romance and courtship are expressed through dance across cultures and history—from the expressive hand motions of the Hawaiian hula to the playful Mexican hat dance to American square dancing—each tradition carries its own language of love. This non-fiction exploration reveals how dances set aside for sweethearts have served as subtle declarations of affection and even engagement across the world.

A designer on the rise in a new town, Ronda Thomas seizes her chance at social climbing when she meets Alan Taber, a wealthy man-hater—but her carefully constructed lies about her humble past threaten to unravel when his mother invites an old acquaintance to their engagement party. As Ronda's ambition crashes against reality, she must face what she's willing to sacrifice for the respectable life she's always craved.

A young woman borrows her sister's fancy dress to impress at a casual school dance, only to find that standing out from the crowd backfires when her date Ron pulls away instead of drawing closer. After a miserable evening ignored on the dance floor, she learns a hard lesson about fitting in—and discovers that being herself is what actually makes her shine.