Man with a Mission

by Ruth Clemence

"You're an extremely attractive female!"

Rex declared as he kissed her. Yet Davina felt heartsick because he appeared not to love her.

Though she had accepted Rex's offer to be housekeeper on his remote sheep farm, she suspected he'd offered the job because he thought she was a useless little rich girl who couldn't do it.

Now she knew that he'd had another motive entirely. Was it possible that her love for him would overcome his desire for revenge?

Genres: Harlequin Romance, Harlequin

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[StMargarets]

A revenge story that started out well enough, but the heroine lost her personality once she realized what the hero was up to, and forgave too quickly at the end.

Hero is an Australian who is setting up an experimental sheep farm in the wilds of Cumbria. His first encounter with the heroine is when she is in a bath towel coming out of her male cousin's bathroom. He wants a housekeeper and offers her the job. She has just finished her university course and wants time to write short stories, so she agrees. Heroine was given a trip to Australia when she was 21 and she met a man there who wanted to marry her - even going to far as to publish their engagement in a Sydney paper. Luckily, heroine escaped from his obsession. That's all she knows of Australians, but she likes the looks of this one.

Can you guess where this is going?

No, you can't because we have a detour!

She and her sister are the poor relations of a wealthy family in Switzerland. Her grandmother invites the hero to her 80th birthday in Switzerland in order to vet him. (??) I know - weird. So there are several chapters of the heroine at the party with her many cousins (all named and never seen again) as well as swims in the indoor pool and other rich people activities.

Then she's off to Cumbria with the hero and is expected to house keep in a dilapidated farmhouse, but luckily, she was raised poor in Wales and knows all about coal stoves and how to cook. There are long descriptions of her housekeeping efforts and how she cheerfully handles all the discomfort and work.

The hero is blows hot and cold, but he's nice to her on occasion, taking her out to eat, etc . . . He cares for her when she is sick and takes her on a picnic where he rescues her from an adder. They paint the house together and buy furniture and hero kisses her now and again. There's a vet who is interested the in heroine (hero has told everyone they're step-siblings) and there's the vet's married-but-separated sister who is interested in the hero.

The routine of the sheep farm seems to be going well until the heroine expresses her love for the hero and he pounces. He tells her that his half-brother was engaged to her and when she jilted him he tried to commit suicide by swimming outside the shark nets. He was rescued after a shark bit off his foot/leg. Hero has made her fall in love with him only to be rejected so she can know how his half-brother felt.

Heroine is devastated, and for awhile we get some delicious angst. Hero keeps her from going out with the vet and he makes sure she can't leave the farm and gives her a lot to do, but in the end she doesn't fight back. She's "too in love" to leave. *headdesk* She needs to hate him, so he knows that he's killed something beautiful and that revenge is stupid. But no - she's just had a personality transplant and meekly takes the punishment. (There's also the implied threat that he'll tell the community she's some kind of jezebel, thus messing up her sister's chances with a guy from that district).

She's told to prepare for a visitor, but hero doesn't tell her who it is. Yes, you guessed it. It's the half-brother. When he walks in the kitchen and she sees his missing leg/foot she faints. Hero is surprised she is so sensitive. He's also surprised half-brother is engaged to a nurse from the hospital and heroine not going along with their engagement was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Half-brother doesn't stay long. Hero doesn't apologize to heroine - he just continues on as if nothing happened. Then he falls out in a snowstorm and heroine rescues him. Then Vet's sister tells the nurse she's his fiance so she can visit hero in the hospital. Heroine realizes she has to leave. Hero finally tells her the truth when he gets home from the hospital. Nothing between him and OW. He was fighting his attraction all along - that's why he was so mean. NO APOLOGY. No remorse for putting her through so much.

This is as close as he gets: "Can you ever forgive me, my delightful Welsh Witch?" Of course she does. *rolls eyes* HEA

Let's face it, revenge stories are always suspect, but this one was out there - he bought an experimental sheep farm just to get to her, really? There were so many parts I liked - I love household chore competency - there's something so satisfying about watching someone else whip a house into shape. Heroine was a lot of fun and there was a reason so many men liked her. Hero was fine until he adapted that "love never means saying your sorry" nonsense. Oh, yes it does, and loudly and as often as necessary. No grovel ruined the ending.

[Margo]

H is absolutely cruel to h for most of the book. There is only the faintest hint of a grovel.

[RomLibrary]

You're an extremely attractive female!"

Rex declared as he kissed her. Yet Davina felt heartsick because he appeared not to love her.

Though she had accepted Rex's offer to be housekeeper on his remote sheep farm, she suspected he'd offered the job because he thought she was a useless little rich girl who couldn't do it.

Now she knew that he'd had another motive entirely. Was it possible that her love for him would overcome his desire for revenge?