Webb House, a somber old mansion near Shadow Lake, was a house of secrets. To Nurse Jean Reese, the occupants were strange characters indeed — each with a secret life — a private, closely hidden world not to be shared.

In Jean’s life, too, there was a secret: a lost love. Michael was his name. Jean had worn her heart on her sleeve, but Michael would have none of it.

Until one day an exciting stranger appeared at Webb House…and Jean finally had to make a choice.

Janice Hunt, head nurse of the recovery-room unit at Wentworth Hospital, heard quick footsteps coming down the corridor and glanced up from her desk to see the stout figure of Amanda Dilby hurrying toward her. Janice could tell by the troubled look on the older nurse’s face that there was a crisis of some sort.

Resting a plump hand on the desk, Amanda said, “Mr. Forest has suddenly started to hemorrhage!”

Janice stood up at once. “That’s Dr. Dodge’s patient, isn’t it?”

The older woman nodded. “Yes. The doctor operated on him this morning. He checked on him earlier this afternoon, and the patient was fine then.”

“He’ll probably need a transfusion,” Janice said, her blue eyes wide with concern.

Amanda agreed. “Yes. He’s lost a lot of blood. I’ve called the intern, and he’s in there now trying to cope with it all.”

Relief showed on the attractive face of the young head nurse. “Dr. Cairns?” she asked.

“Yes,” Amanda said.

“That’s good. He’s the most experienced.”

“He happened to be on his rounds,” the older nurse said.

Janice said, “I’d better go see what’s happening.”

“I think you’d better.”

The two nurses strode quickly along the corridor to the recovery room, with its complicated equipment. Eleven patients were recovering from various types of surgery. Janice saw that young Dr. Cairns, assisted by one of the room’s several nurses, had already started a transfusion on the critically ill patient.

Janice crossed to the young intern’s side. “How is it going?”

Dr. Cairns, slender with a rakish brown mustache, gave her a reassuring smile. “Everything under control now. But it’s lucky I was here. He lost an incredible amount of blood in a short time.”

Nurse Iva gave too much, too rapidly, to her work and found herself confronted with a choice between her career and the man who loved her.

The staff of City Core Hospital was faced daily with the problem of saving the lives of would-be suicides and of keeping these patients from trying again and again. Nurse Iva Loring had an inner drive that had taken her through school and training at top speed. She gave too much, too rapidly, to her work and was on the verge of a nervous collapse when she took time off to regain her perspective on life.

Now she was easing herself back into work as a stand-by nurse. Her special empathy for the depressed and discouraged made her an ideal nurse for the suicide detail. But there was a question of whether or not she was too understanding and too involved to be effective.

Iva, herself, had to examine her values and choose between the career to which she was dedicated and marriage to the devoted young hospital pharmacist who had stood by her without making any demands on her emotions. Could Iva make that choice?

How long could young Dr. Bob hide the terrible truth before Nurse Kane was forced to turn to another man?

Everybody thought Wanda Miles was too rich, too beautiful to be a good nurse. But she was. And her know-how included a plan to lure Dr. John Stamers into her arms.

When the brilliant young doctor turned his sights on Nurse Shirley Kate, the explosion was heard in every corner of Carrington Hospital…

Would the dedicated doctor Ellen loved see the danger she was in…before it was too late?

Ellen Stuart took the assignment in the little hospital in Caballo partly to see a part of the world her father had known and loved…and partly to get away from reminders of her fiance, killed in an auto accident. Ellen expected to find hardship and discomfort and discouragement in the tropical outpost village. She didn’t expect to find anyone like Dr. John Wilks — handsome, dedicated and convinced that Ellen wouldn’t want to stay. Or like his light-hearted friend, Dr. Anderson Bader, who went all out to persuade her not to stay. Above all, the lovely blond nurse did not come to Caballo expecting to become a target for murder!