Heart Throbs #26

Elaine finds herself torn between two very different suitors: Harry Bradford, a dependable banker on the verge of a promotion, and Jeff Masters, a struggling medical student working his way through school. After agonizing over her choice, she accepts Jeff's proposal—but her engagement becomes increasingly lonely as his studies and job leave little time for romance, while Harry moves on and becomes engaged to Ann Carter. As Elaine reconsiders her decision and reconnects with Harry, she's forced to face the consequences of her initial choice and discover what truly matters to her heart.

Gloria poured her savings into Ned Burke's dream of opening their own restaurant, hoping their business partnership would blossom into romance—but Ned sees her only as his most valuable employee. When he starts dating Joyce and encourages Gloria to find her own boyfriend, the pain of unreturned love finally becomes unbearable, and Gloria must decide whether she can stay by his side as just a partner.

Carol, a dance studio owner engaged to her partner Fred Gurney, takes on Steve Wyatt—a rough-around-the-edges Oklahoma rancher newly arrived in New York—as a student and makes it her personal project to transform him into a sophisticated city man. As weeks pass and Steve's metamorphosis takes hold, Carol finds herself drawn to the man beneath the makeover, only to realize the feelings run deeper than she bargained for. Now caught between her fiancé, her protégé, and the consequences of her own meddling, Carol must confront what her vanity has cost them both.

Dina Foster sacrifices her own happiness to support Frank Kenton's engineering career, but when she discovers him out on the town with other women, jealousy and hurt drive her to reinvent herself as the kind of girl she thinks he wants. After six months of heartbreak, Dina learns that Frank's true secret ambition was playwriting—and that he'd been living the very life depicted in his new play to gather material for his work.