The Frenchman's Plain-Jane Project

Meg gazed up at Etienne. “How can you be so sure that I’ll be able to pull this off?

“You’ve jumped in and taken me on as a kind of project—one where you’re determined to get the blue ribbon by turning me into the best jam at the county fair. You’re so sure, so enthusiastic, so determined. Don’t you ever doubt? Or question?”

He reached out one hand and raked his fingertips across her cheek. “I question many things in life,” he said solemnly. “More than you’ll ever know. But I don’t question truth when it stares me in the face, Meg. We’ll succeed because it’s clear to me that you are an amazing and striking woman.”

“And you know this how?”

He smiled gently and tucked one finger under her chin. “I know this because you did something you hated the thought of doing just to save your friends, and I also know this because I’m a man and I have eyes in my head.” And, without another word, he leaned over and placed his lips on hers.

Dear Reader

I think that I’ve always had a fascination with those ‘before and after’ photos one sees in magazines. Yes, I know that often they’re not real, or they’re digitally altered, but there’s something so…hopeful about a person deciding that they have a problem, setting out to change it and then—with a little magic and hard work—succeeding beyond their wildest dreams in a very dramatic way.

So, I met Meg Leighton, the heroine of this book, and I discovered that she had a secret desire to be all the things she’d never been allowed to be in her life—and then I met Etienne Gavard, a man who might actually help her achieve her secret desires…Well, I just had to write their story. But the funny thing is that along the way I realised a few things.

There’s no way to take a picture of the ‘before and after’ stages of a heart that’s been broken and then mended, but that transformation is even more meaningful than any physical transformation. If we could take a photo of the results, the ‘after’ photo would dazzle us completely. That which transforms us the most is loving and being loved. If we should be so lucky as to experience love in our lives, then we are very lucky indeed.

So, while Meg wants to be a Cinderella of sorts, and Etienne wants to help her, what I’m finding (and what I think you’ll find) is that they’re in for so much more than a simple makeover…

Best wishes

Myrna Mackenzie

Myrna Mackenzie never meant to be a writer. Writing was something that mysteriously famous people did, and she didn’t qualify. Still, fate came calling in the form of a writing assignment in sixth grade, so Myrna got out her trusty blue pen, her lined notebook paper, and penned a murder mystery. It was titled something suitably gory and…um…embarrassing (Mackenzie doesn’t remember the title, but thinks The Terrible Mystery of the Bloody Glove would have been about her style back then). The story was a mess, and the box containing that story eventually went missing somewhere between moves (hurray!). But the experience of writing a story turned out to be amazing and wonderful and fun and…you get the picture. She was hooked.

Years later Mackenzie discovered her true love: writing romances. An award-winning author of over 30 novels, Myrna was born in Campbell, a small town in the Missouri boot-heel. She grew up just outside Chicago, and she and her husband now divide their time between two lakes in Chicago and Wisconsin—both very different and both very beautiful. In addition to writing she loves coffee, hiking, cruising the Internet for interesting websites and attempting gardening, cooking and knitting. Readers (and other potential gardeners, cooks, knitters, writers, etc.) can visit Myrna online at www.myrnamackenzie.com, or write to her at PO Box 225, La Grange, IL 60525, USA.

Cover Page

Excerpt

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Copyright

“I HATE to discourage you, but you’re not going to be able to convince Meg to come work for you. And I’m afraid…I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to tell you why.”

That small bit of information was all Etienne Gavard had been able to glean from one of Meg Leighton’s former coworkers. It echoed in his head as he drove his sleek black Porsche into a rundown Chicago neighborhood, located the apartment building he was looking for and pulled into a parking spot two doors down. Not an especially promising situation, but Meg Leighton was the expert he needed to help him complete the near impossible task he’d taken on.

“So, this is what it’s come to.” He muttered the words as he stared at the dingy building where Ms. Leighton apparently lived. He had crossed the Atlantic and had been driven to following questionable women he’d never met to even more questionable neighborhoods.