Valentine #9 April 1966

In the quiet glow of an island casino, Jean meets Peter Malone, a man whose mind is as sharp as the odds he calculates. As their connection deepens, Jean wonders if she’s falling for a man—or a machine that sees love through numbers. With Aunt Elsie and Uncle George’s anniversary celebration as the backdrop, the question lingers: can a heart truly connect when every feeling is weighed like a bet?

Candy O'Keefe is stunned to learn that José, the man she’s come to admire, was once Spain’s most celebrated bullfighter—until a tragic accident left him with a permanent limp. Now, as she grapples with the weight of his past, she finds herself drawn to the quiet strength behind his scars, even as Annabelle’s presence lingers in the shadows.

In a quiet moment of connection, Hugh teaches Jill the moves of chess while she returns the favor with a dance lesson—each convinced the other’s skill is just a passing fancy. When they enter one another in their respective competitions, their playful bets turn into something sharper, testing not just talent but the strength of their growing bond.

Julia and John are playing the part of the perfect engaged couple for a publicity stunt, though both are secretly involved with other people—Julia with Horace, John with Ginger. When a run-in with the police lands them on the front page of the Daily Wire, their fabricated romance is put under pressure. A TV appearance is arranged to keep up appearances, but when the host asks John to set a wedding date, his agreement triggers an unexpected reaction from Julia—she pours a glass of water over him.

In "You Never Can Tell...", Jane Marsh finds her personal story accidentally mixed in with her boss Farley Shaw’s manuscript submissions—only to be dismissed as fantasy. When a famous romance author visits, Jane expects romance but gets a dull evening instead. Yet when Farley reads the author’s latest tale, he’s convinced it’s a thinly veiled account of his own feelings for Jane, leading to a surprising shift in their dynamic.