The Keys' Prince (The Royal Heirs) (8 page)

“What exactly do you mean?” Dario asked, fidgeting in his chair, beginning to understand where his lead protection officer might be heading, but totally unsure whether or not he was ready to go along with what he could have in mind.

“The reporters and paparazzi want to catch shots of you and Stella together, right?” Franco jumped in, evidently already having joined forces with Stefan.

Everyone at the table nodded.

“So, let’s give it to them,” Stefan said. “Franco and I will meet with them each evening to arrange one single photo op for them to attend the next day. They’ll take their pictures at that time, ask you a couple of questions, and then that’s it. You’re done with them until the next day when we repeat the process.” Stefan made it all sound so simple, but Dario knew what photos like that implied. The impression given would be that he and Stella were a lot more than old friends.

Dario thought about what Stefan and Franco had proposed. Obviously, they’d discussed it and were in full agreement that this was the best way to handle the situation.

It wasn’t that Dario disagreed. He actually did think it was a great idea. It was exactly the kind of plan he would have proposed himself, if it involved any other woman besides Stella. There was no way he could only pretend to be interested in her again. Pretend to want to spend time with her. Pretend to love her.

“In other words, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together the next few weeks,” Dario said looking at Stella and doing his best to make sure his ornery grin took the place of the doubts and concerns swirling inside his head and heart. “That works for me. How about for you, Stella?”

Encouraging her to cooperate with a mischievous expression and what he hoped was a glimmer of challenge in his eyes, he prayed she’d go along with the plan. Perhaps this was exactly what they needed to begin to see their situation in an entirely new light. His mind raced with ideas of where this could lead, some of those ideas bringing heat to areas of his body that hadn’t reacted this strong for a long time.

“Alright. I’m game. But what if we take this a step further?” Stella asked, wiping the stupid grin right off of Dario’s face.

“A step further? How so?” Although intrigued, Dario doubted Stella was willing to take it as far as he was.

“What if we made it appear that the world’s fairy tale has finally come true?” Stella asked, the wicked grin plastered across her lips taking Dario to places he wanted to go more than anything he’d ever wanted in his life.

“I’m not sure I’m following you,” Auntie Elo chimed in, although the twinkle in her eyes suggested otherwise.

Leave it to her to push their buttons even further. Dario made a mental note to do something very special for Elo and to make sure he always kept her on his good side.

“What they all want is a princess for their prince, and you said yourself, Dario, that you desperately need one,” Stella said, looking at him for acknowledgement.

Feeling rather sheepish, which was ridiculous considering that just a few moments ago, he couldn’t imagine anything he wanted more, Dario swallowed and said, “I wouldn’t say that I’m desperate. It’s just that I want to be able to choose—”

“Okay. I didn’t mean to make it sound like that, silly,” Stella said. “What the media also wants, and they’ve wanted it for a long time, is to force me out of hiding and see me back in the spotlight as a jet-setting heiress. You need a princess, or at least a strong hint that you’ve found one, and I need to get out on the international business circuit and settle my business interests once and for all. So what if we made it appear that yes, you chose your princess, and it’s me?”

No one spoke, although several deep breaths were taken. If Dario read her right, Stella was just as unnerved at her own suggestion as he was. Her hands were shaking against the sides of her tea cup making the cup clank and rattle against the saucer. So she wasn’t near as in control and sure of herself as her voice made it seem.

“I say we not only give them what they want, as Franco and Stefan suggested, but that we also add the possibility of a fairytale to the mix. It would help us both,” Stella said finishing off her tea and refilling her cup, her hands still shaking, even though she tried to hide that fact by using both hands to steady the carafe and then her cup.

“Let me see if I’m following this,” Auntie Elo said, scooting up in her chair till she was on the edge of her seat.

Dario didn’t need to change positions on his chair to feel any more 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 everything the boutiques’ stylist had sent, hanging the pieces that needed to be hung, and filling the drawers and shoe racks in her room’s massive walk-in closet. They’d definitely sent enough for several weeks, and Stella really appreciated their efforts on extreme short notice.

For today’s outing, she’d chosen khaki, cargo-style Capri pants paired with a sparkling tank top, this one shimmering with champagne-colored sequins and crystals. She’d grabbed a nice floppy hat that one of the boutiques had sent and added dark amber tinted, faux snake skin sunglasses and Louboutin, glitter-dusted hightop sneakers. Once their photo op was finished, with this look, she could at least try to blend into the botanical garden’s crowd. Hopefully, she could enjoy the rest of the day out of the spotlight, hiding under the wide brim of the hat.

“You look stunning,” Dario said, coming down the stairs looking as if he should be on his way to a GQ shoot instead of to the botanical gardens. “I love that you’ve always got something on that sparkles. You truly are fit to be a princess. And always have been.”

Stella smiled at his compliment. Heat flushed her cheeks. She could get used to his kind, approving words real quick. No one ever made her feel as special and beautiful as he did.

And no one ever looked as good as he did either. Checking out his ensemble, Stella’s smile grew even bigger. He made his clothes look incredible. Considering their designer labels, one would think it would be the other way around. But when it came to Dario, the clothes did not make the man. The man made the clothes.

He was wearing white linen trousers with a matching shirt, the sleeves rolled up. She was glad to see he still did that. His arms were way too sexy to cover up. He had on rich leather driving moccasins, and he carried a royal blue baseball cap with his family crest embroidered on the front in a sparkling silver thread.

So much for trying to enjoy the day incognito, she thought, focusing on the royal family’s crest—an elegant crown guarded on each side by a massive, roaring lion. Not wanting to hurt his feelings though, she didn’t say anything about it.

’Course with his dashing looks he always earned a second look. And most of the time a third. So it wasn’t as if all eyes wouldn’t be on him anyway. And today especially. Not that there was ever any mistaking Prince Adonis for an average, every day guy. But with his hair like it was today, there wouldn’t be a woman in the gardens who wasn’t more interested in him than any of the gorgeous tropical plants.

His ebony black hair fell in loosely curled strands over the collar of his shirt. It was the first time in years that Stella had seen his hair down. And it made it even harder to keep her hands out of it. She knew the feel of it wrapped around her fingers. And it was heavenly.

“Are you ready to get this show on the road? I think that’s what you say here, right?” He asked, offering her his elbow.

“Indeed,” she said, accepting his arm. “I’m really excited to see the gardens. You know how much I love flowers. Would you believe that even with all of the extraordinary gardens on my father’s properties, I haven’t gotten my hands dirty in any of them? Sad, isn’t it? Actually, learning to garden is still on my Bucket List.”

“It is sad. I remember how much you adore flowers. And I hope you do something about it. Speaking of which, I think you’ll be impressed with our new palace gardens in Kristianico. They might bring back some pleasant memories for you.”

“How so?” Stella asked, more than tickled that he’d remembered her love of flowers.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“So you’re rather confident that our plan will work well enough here in the States that we can take our show to Kristianico?”

“I hope so. Making you feel like my princess is at the top of my Bucket List,” he said.

Without any hesitation, he put his hand under her chin and tilted up her head so she had no choice but to look into his eyes. “And I’m not saying that, Stella, because I have to take you to Kristianico in order for our plan to work. I want to take you home. I’m looking forward to being your prince.”

“That’s very sweet of you. Thank you. And for the record, I don’t think I’ll mind being your princess. Living the kind of lives we do is really lonely, isn’t it?” She asked and sighed, her heart heavy with the recognition of just how lonely it was. “It doesn’t matter how many years you do it. That part doesn’t change. It’s nice to be with someone who truly gets that.”

“You do know that it doesn’t have to be that way, right? You do believe that, don’t you?” Dario asked as he started to open the front door. “Even for people like us, there’s hope. We can find love, too. Once upon a time, long-long ago, we found it. And I’ve never given up on finding it again.”

Before Stella could find the right words, she heard what sounded like a horse bounding down the staircase behind them.

Turning around, she came face-to-face with the largest, fluffiest black dog she’d ever seen. Well, not that she could see much of him. He had her almost pinned to the hand-carved oak door they’d been about to open.