HE tall, dark stranger walked into the charity shop carrying a pile of books and smiled.

She had a strange feeling that things would never be the same again..... For charity shop manager Gaynor Griffiths, romance is back in her life - in the shape of more than 240 Mills & Boon novels donated by kind-hearted Argus readers.

We revealed last week how Mrs Griffiths' Cancer Research UK shop in Blackwood's High Street had run out of the popular romances, which top the list of sought-after reads.

She told us then: "They are our best-selling books and we desperately need more.

"Lots of our customers come in especially for these books and buy six or seven at a time.

"Sometimes, if they are going on holiday, they'll buy up to 20 of them! "Some ladies come in two to three times a week to look for them. "I've no idea how they remember which ones they have read." After her appeal in the Argus, Mrs Griffiths says she was staggered by our readers' generous response.

Mrs Griffiths said the first 80 books were donated on Saturday - just a day after our article was published.

"They have been followed by another 160 since then - they have been brought here in boxloads," she said.

"I can hardly believe the response, it is brilliant."

She says the shop cannot cope with demand for the books - and that customers go away disappointed if the shelf specially reserved for Mills & Boon is bare.

And, selling at 50p or £1 each, the books are a good source of funds for the charity.

The shop still needs more of the books to keep its shelves full - so those with a secret stash can take them to 99 High Street, open between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Saturday.