The Man Outside (Mills & Boon No. 974)

I read this story for the first time nearly thirty years ago, and I've returned to it many times since. Jane Donnelly is one of my favorite of the Harlequin/Mills & Boon authors, but this book seems to encompass much of what I enjoy in her writing into one story. The characterizations and setting (an archaelogical dig on a remote island off the coast of Scotland) are interesting and used to great effect.

Piers, consultant to the expedition, is an brilliant, but somewhat bitter recluse; Polly is a pretty, small-town girl whose life has skipped along on a happy, even keel.

Kind-natured, industrious and intelligent, Polly isn't used to being dismissed by men, and she is a bit taken aback that Piers doesn't respond to her friendly overtures. As she begins to see the deep loneliness behind his austere facade, she decides to try and "humanize" him. As she expends more effort in getting to know him, she begins to fall in love with him, and he with her. Donnelly is very good at projecting the passionate feelings awakened by their budding relationship, with very little overt sensuality.

Naturally, the course of true love doesn't always run smoothly, and there's a fly in the ointment in the form of Polly's on-again/off-again ex, fellow archaelogist Clive.

If you choose to buy this book, I think you'll be touched and entertained by this sweet, very romantic story.