Apart From the Crowd

After her father lost the family's fortune, Wilhelmina was cast out of the fashionable set and banished to the wallflower section. Taking a position as a social secretary to help support her family, she's mostly come to terms with her new status. But when her old friend Edgar returns to New York society for the first time since she rejected his marriage proposal, she's newly ashamed at how far she's fallen-and how hastily she dismissed him years ago. Her strategy is to avoid a face-to-face encounter at all costs, but he seems to have other plans. Will Edgar take advantage of their now reversed positions and make her regret her refusal, or is there still hope for a friendship between them-or something more?

Miss Permilia Griswold may have been given the opportunity of a debut into New York high society, but no one warned her she wasn't guaranteed to take. After spending the last six years banished to the wallflower section of the ballroom, she's finally putting her status on the fringes of society to good use by penning anonymous society gossip columns under the pseudonym Miss Quill. The estimable Mr. Asher Rutherford has managed to maintain his status as a reputable gentleman of society despite opening his own department store. When Permilia overhears a threat against him, she's determined to find and warn the man, taking matters into her own hands and never realizing she'll end up at risk as well. As Asher and Permilia are forced to work together, they spend time away from the spotlight of society and discover that there may be more going on behind the scenes than they could have ever anticipated...

Miss Gertrude Cadwalader hoped her position as the paid companion to the wealthy Mrs. Davenport would be easy, but as she becomes acquainted with her employer, she realizes that she has a strange tendency to be a bit light-fingered with other people's trinkets. Gertrude is relieved when Mrs. Davenport decides to have a quiet summer away from the social scene-but then the woman changes her mind in order to help a young socialite launch into society. When Gertrude is caught in the act of trying to return one of the trinkets Mrs. Davenport had taken, Mrs. Sinclair, the mother of shipping magnate Harrison Sinclair, jumps to an unfortunate conclusion. Harrison is determined to mend fences with Miss Cadwalader, but he's unprepared for the escapades a friendship with her will entail...

Miss Temperance Flowerdew is on her way to work when a stranger suddenly grabs her off the street and sends her on a Chicago-bound train before she can figure out what has happened. When Mr. Gilbert Cavendish is called upon to rescue a missing woman, he follows the trail to Chicago only to discover that the woman is his good friend Temperance. Before they can discover who was behind the abduction, they're seen alone together by a New York society matron, putting their reputations at risk. Gilbert is willing to propose marriage-but Temperance will have none of it. She's finally stepped out of the shadow of her relations and won't give up her independence. But when it becomes clear that the misunderstanding in Chicago has escalated into a threat on her life, accepting Gilbert's help in solving the mystery may lead to more than she ever could have dreamed.