Free The Keys' Prince (The Royal Heirs) by D. D. Scott

at ease with Stella’s proposal. Every nerve in his body was in overdrive.
    “You think that with your father’s trustees focused on the possibility that they’re going to have to deal with you taking a husband that, they’ll become complacent regarding the oil contracts and your other business with them, giving you time to do what you need to do to get rid of them for good?” Elo asked, precisely summarizing what was in it for Stella.
    “Exactly,” Stella said, the smug look on her face indicating that she was delighted to see that her aunt was on board with her idea.
    “As for me,” Dario said, “I’ll be able to get my family off my back and give my people hope that I will provide them with a princess and an heir, which will give me borrowed time to move forward with my financial plans to grow our tourism and secure Kristianico’s future.”
    Dario was willing to do anything to help Stella get the Anastas Foundation’s very dark and dangerous trustees out of her life. And he certainly wasn’t opposed to the major benefits her plan offered him, too.
    “Precisely, my Prince. With the world focused on our romance, we’ll each be free to move about in our business interests without much, if any attention. Everyone will be otherwise engaged. Pardon the pun,” Stella said, giggling at her perfect play on words.
    “I suppose that if your plan fails to make you my permanent princess, I’ve still got Emma Lou and Hollywood who would probably be glad to host a bridal bake-off,” Dario said, giving her his best cat-ate-the-canary look.
    “Let’s hope you’re never that destitute,” Auntie Elo said, lifting her tea cup high in the air. “A toast then to our grand charade.”
    They each touched the tips of their cups to Auntie Elo’s.
    “To giving ’em what they want,” she said, clinking her cup to theirs.
    “And then some,” Stella added.
    Whatever the hell he’d just gotten himself into, Dario couldn’t imagine being in better company or finding a better way to get closer to the woman who, more than any other, he wanted to make his own.
     

    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    By ten the next morning, Stella was in the foyer of the Casey Key estate, waiting for Dario to take her on their first of several strategically-orchestrated dates. If all went according to plan, they would soon be the toast of the town—Sarasota and the world’s new ‘It’ Couple.
    For today’s high-profile date, they’d be going to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, a tropical oasis by the bay, founded by the wife of an oil tycoon who once wintered in Sarasota.
    Stella was really looking forward to a day exploring the lush gardens. She loved everything about gardening. The amazing colors and scents. The wonderful miracles found in each plant’s shape, structure and function. The way teams of gardeners paired thousands of varieties into brilliantly sculptured sanctuaries. She even enjoyed the damp, musky smell of the dirt, mulch and compost.
    Truth told she also couldn’t wait to spend an entire day with Dario, the man she’d never been able to get out of her heart or head. Their dates were supposed to be for show. She knew that. And she’d be a fool to allow herself to pretend otherwise. She was even more of a fool to think she could spend a day with him and not fall in love all over again.
    Taking one more spin in front of the entry hall’s mirror, she hoped he liked her new look. He wasn’t used to seeing her so trim and fit, and now that she was, she dressed trendier than when they were together years ago.
    Considering she was hunkered down in Casey Key, on the other side of town from Auntie Elo’s, where all of her clothes were, she was lucky to have anything to wear at all. She’d had to call two of her favorite downtown Sarasota boutiques to put together an entire new wardrobe on-the-fly and then have Franco arrange for a member of her security team to pick-up the items.
    Early this morning, she’d gone through