âWe had a long discussion about what women really want,â Allegra went on, ignoring him, âand I started thinking: what if we could create a boyfriend who was everything women wanted?â
âHow on earth would you go about that?â asked Max, not sure whether to laugh or groan in disbelief.
âBy teaching him what to do,â said Allegra. âThatâs what I pitched to Stella: a piece on whether itâs possible to take an ordinary bloke and transform him into the perfect man.â
There was a silence. Maxâs sense of foreboding was screaming a warning now.
âPlease tell me this isnât the point where you say, And this is where you come in,â he said in a hollow voice.
âAnd this is where you come in, Max,â said Allegra.
Dear Reader
Incredible as it seems, MR (NOT QUITE) PERFECT is my 60th title. Iâm not quite sure how that happened! Iâve fallen in love with every one of those sixty heroes, but I have to admit that Max is specialâand not just because some of his quirks bear a resemblance to the civil engineer closest to my own heart!
Max is the ultimate Jessica Hart hero, I think: not incredibly handsome or incredibly rich, not suave or sophisticated, but a man with integrity who doesnât try to be something he isnât. In spite of Allegraâs efforts to transform him into âthe perfect manâ Max remains resolutely himself, and itâs Allegra who learns that loving someone isnât about wanting them to change, but about accepting them as they areâfaults and all. Max isnât any of the things she thinks she wants, but he turns out to be everything that she needsâand that means that heâs perfect after all.
So the next time Iâm grumbling about a shirt being buttoned too high at the collarâI had no shortage of inspiration for this book!âIâm going to remember that!
Happy reading!
Jessica x
JESSICA HART was born in west Africa, and has suffered from itchy feet ever since, travelling and working around the world in a wide variety of interesting but very lowly jobsâall of which have provided inspiration on which to draw when it comes to the settings and plots of her stories. Now she lives a rather more settled existence in York, where she has been able to pursue her interest in historyâalthough she still yearns sometimes for wider horizons.
If youâd like to know more about Jessica visit her website: www.jessicahart.co.uk
This and other titles by Jessica Hart are available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk
For John, perfect for me, with love.
ONE
Making Mr Perfect by Allegra Fielding
Youâve met a new guy. Youâre hot, hot, hot for each other. Heâs everything you ever wanted. But have you noticed that the infatuation phase never lasts? âFess up, ladies. How long before youâre out with the girls and you find yourself saying, âHeâd be perfect if only he talked about his feelings/cooked occasionally/arranged a surprise mini-break/unfriended his ex on Facebook/insert peeve of your choice? Heâs still hot, you still love him to bits, but heâs not quite as perfect as he seemed at first.
Are we asking too much of men nowadays? In a fairy tale, Prince Charmingâs task is clear. He has to hack his way through a thicket, slay a dragon and rescue the princess. Easy. In real life, we want our men to do a whole lot more to deserve us. Here at Glitz weâve been conducting our own super-scientific survey over a few cocktails (pomegranate martinis, anyone?) and it seems that we want it all. The perfect boyfriend, it turns out, can fix our cars and dance without looking like a total dork. He looks good and heâll get rid of that spider in the shower. Heâll sit through a romcom without complaining and be strong enough to literally sweep us off our feet when required.
But does such a man exist? And if he doesnât, is it possible to create him? Glitz gives one lucky guy the chance of the ultimate makeover. Read on and see how one unreconstructed male rose to the challenge of becoming the perfect man. Meetâ
Allegra lifted her fingers from the keyboard and flexed them. Meet who?
Good question. Funny how the world was full of unreconstructed males until you actually needed one. But as soon as she had started asking around, it turned out that nobody wanted to admit that their boyfriends were anywhere near imperfect enough to take part in her experiment.
With a sigh, Allegra closed the document and shut down her computer. Had she been too ambitious? But Stella had liked the idea. The editor in chief had inclined her head by an infinitesimal degree, which signified enthusiasm. Now Allegra had a big break at lastâand it would all fall apart if she couldnât find a man in need of a major makeover. One measly man, that was all she needed. He had to be out there somewhere...but where?
* * *
âOuf!â Allegra threw herself extravagantly into the armchair and toed off her mock-croc stilettos with a grimace of pain. The needle-thin metal heels were to die for, but she had been on them for over twelve hours and while they might be long on style, they were extremely short on comfort.