Perfect Mismatch: Perfect Match, #1

By EmKay Connor

How does a wealthy, overworked CFO at a Fortune 500 company find a man when every guy she's dated is more interested in positions and power than in her? Cue the violins for an Italian pizzeria owner from Philly with a track record of dating disasters and a real desire for love. Both apply to PERFECT MATCH, a TV reality show advertising cutting edge technology to pair up ideal mates. Matches so perfect, the show guarantees a wedding before the weekend is over.

But when Elizabeth Ellis and Val Corelli arrive at Barefoot Bay to star in the show's premiere episode, they discover the producers' idea of a perfect match is a lot different from their own.

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This story is set in a world based on Roxanne St. Claire's Barefoot Bay Series; it is published with the permission of Roxanne St. Claire. Visit her website for links to her books and more information.

• Language: English
• Publisher: EmKay Connor
• Release date: Apr 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781386936732

Book preview

1

And my flight to Beijing will need to be cancelled. The president of Asian Women Entrepreneurs went into labor early and ended up having a C-section so we’re pushing back the rollout of our project with them. Send a suitable gift for her and the baby. Elizabeth Ellis scrolled through the notes on her tablet to make sure there were no further instructions she needed to dictate for her assistant. Thanks for handling things while I’m gone. I’ll be back in the office on Monday.

Her driver discreetly cleared his throat, capturing Elizabeth’s attention. She looked up, startled to realize they were no longer moving. The Town Car that had picked her up from the Naples Municipal Airport was now parked in front of a beautiful three-story building. The exotic Moroccan-style architecture, all white stucco and red tile, was offset by lush vegetation and elegant palms whose fronds swayed in a gentle breeze.

Welcome to Casa Blanca Resort & Spa, he said, a hint of pride in his tone. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are expecting you. Would you like me to escort you in?

Elizabeth took a deep breath to calm a sudden flutter of anxiety in her stomach. She was actually going through with it. She’d flown from Los Angeles to this tiny Florida island to not only star on a reality show, but a matchmaking reality show. It wasn’t a desperate move, she reassured herself—not for the first time—but a practical, 21st century kind of decision that more and more men and women were making.

Let science find your soulmate. She remembered the TV show’s executive producer pitching the concept to her three months ago over dinner at The Palm in Beverly Hills. Gil Ladmore could have passed for Steven Tyler’s younger-by-at-least-twenty-years twin. His shaggy waves were streaked with blond, and his wardrobe leaned toward the same punk-bohemian style the Aerosmith front man rocked. Before they’d finished the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin appetizer, she’d discovered all that flamboyance hid a very shrewd showman.

Do you make business decisions based on emotions? Gil had asked her. Of course, not. You research and evaluate and investigate, no doubt relying on analytics generated by computers and teams of experts. You’re a Fortune 500 CFO, ranked one of the wealthiest and most influential female corporate officers in the world. You didn’t achieve that kind of success by making decisions based on woo-woo feelings. That’s why you were recommended to us.

That much was true, she’d admitted to herself. As the only daughter and heir of Milton Ellis’s telecommunications empire, her grooming for a leadership role in the corporation had started before she got her first training bra. While others girls spent their summer vacations at the beach or flirting with boys at the mall, Elizabeth accompanied her father on business trips around the world. Her Sweet Sixteen party was a celebration to mark her first successful contract negotiation, not her birthday. While her father had undoubtedly loved her, that affection had not been displayed with mushy woo-woo sentiments.

Gil was smooth and persuasive, but it was the show’s technical advisor who’d ultimately convinced Elizabeth to appear on the debut episode of the reality dating show. Harper Ward, a quiet, slender brunette, had developed the scientific matchmaking protocol that was the basis for Perfect Match.

The Walsh-Williams Life Partner Compatibility Study analyzed more than two thousand couples over a fifteen-year period, Harper had said. Not only did the subjects complete lengthy annual psychosocial surveys, they also underwent extensive physiological testing—DNA sampling, biochemical monitoring, visual and olfactory responses, brain scans and fertility. The responses were weighted according to longevity of the relationship, as well as overall satisfaction with each partner. We used those algorithms to create a computer program that compares your results against a database of candidates who have also undergone psychological and biophysical testing to identify your ideal mate. We have a ninety-eight percent success rate. Of the two hundred couples matched by our protocol, all but one are married or engaged.

Elizabeth had considered Harper’s explanation, then asked, So there’s still margin for error?

No. We guarantee the results. The software developer’s smile had been a tiny bit smug. "We found out one guy lied on portions of the psychosocial questionnaire. When we re-ran the young woman’s profile, we found a genuine