CHAPTER 2

Five Years Later

The black BMW pulled up to the curb of The Gosling. The chauffeur waited, glancing through the rear mirror at his passenger, who was lost in thought, staring out the window.

A valet, waiting under the awning, sprang forward, holding an umbrella and pulled open the back door, but she still didn’t stir.

“We’re here, Ms. Gosling.” He informed her in a quiet voice.

Erin started slightly, turning from the window and blinked at him in confusion for a few seconds before her brown eyes cleared and she flushed.

“Oh, thanks George.” She busied herself with gathering the huge stack of shopping bags in both arms and got out, shutting the door with her foot then hurrying through the drizzling rain into the hotel lobby.

She smiled at the busboy, who hurried forward to take the bags from her.

“Hello James,” she said, glad to finally be rid of the bags. “Is my mother here yet?”

“Yes Ms. Gosling, she’s waiting in the open cafe. Shall I take these up to the penthouse?”

“Yes, please. Thanks.”

Erin turned and headed off towards the cafe at the southern part of the hotel.

The Gosling was an ultramodern edifice of glass and marble rising fifty stories high and was her family’s pride and joy. She followed a succession of exquisite walkways and escalators until she came to the open dome right in the heart of the structure that was the open cafe.

The hostess smiled, and nodded towards where Erin’s mother sat, next to the marble mini waterfall.

“Hi Mom, sorry I’m late,” she bent and placed a fond kiss on her mother’s made up cheeks then flopped into the vacant seat opposite. “Nicky insisted on visiting every single shop we passed and time got away from me.”

Victoria Gosling leveled a fond smile at her daughter. “Hello darling. I just got here myself anyway so no need to apologize. How is Nicola?”

Erin was momentarily distracted by a waiter who appeared at her elbow. She ordered an iced tea then turned back to her mother.

“Nicky is fine, bridal nerves and all.” She grimaced as she recalled the torment of following her cousin from shop to shop, watching her try on a dozen outfits, all the while Nicky had kept up an excited chatter, while Erin had listened absently, wishing she could leave and return to the blessed seclusion of her hotel room.

Fortunately, the outing had been cut short by a call from Nicky’s fiance, Ryan, asking her out to lunch.

“The wedding is next month, isn’t it?” Victoria asked, taking a sip of orange juice while studying her daughter, noting the tired circles under her eyes and the tense shoulders. “You look tired darling. Have you been overworking yourself again?”

“Mum, you say that every time you see me,” Erin said, amused. “And like I keep telling you, I’m fine. Besides I have been on my feet all morning, so I should look tired anyway.”

“There are circles around your eyes and you look like you’re about to snap in two, you’re that tense.” Her mother pursed her lips in disapproval. “I am going to have a word with your father when I get home tonight, see about cutting down the responsibilities at the hotel.”

Erin sighed, drumming her fingertips on the table. Sometimes her mother treated her like she was still sixteen rather than a full grown woman of twenty seven.

“I don’t need a cut in my responsibilities mum. As it is all I do is oversee the kitchen staff, not much work is it? Look, I promise to take a week off after Nicky’s wedding, does that make you happy?”

“I suppose it will have to do,” Victoria heaved a long suffering sigh. “How is that man of yours anyway, Luke was it?” She watched the flush of anger that suffused Erin’s cheeks at the mention of his name. “Uh oh. Trouble in paradise?”

Erin fought down the swell of emotions that filled her insides as she recalled the scene with Luke last night in his apartment. Pain and anger struggled for control, the memory of the hurtful words he’d flung at her still felt like a knife in her gut each time she remembered it.

Granted, he had had every right to be furious- that was the second time she’d cried off dinner with his parents in the past year, but in her defense, she’d been swamped with work as the hotel had been playing host to a group of top business men from Japan, and Erin had needed to make sure the meals served had been nothing less than perfect.

Her two year relationship had paid the price for her dedication, but she did not regret her decision for one minute. Her family always came first and if Luke did not understand, oh well. Still, it hurt to know a two year relationship had ended that way.

“We decided things weren’t working out.” She finally replied, taking a deep sip of her iced tea, glad to have something to distract her from the condemnation she was sure to find if she looked at her mother.

“Oh Erin, really darling?” Victoria sighed in despair. “You need to settle down soon dear. Look at Nicky, you two are the same age and yet she’s already getting married. Time waits for -”

“Please don’t start, Mum,” Erin cut in. “I am not Nicky and getting married isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. We all can’t have perfect marriages like you and dad. Speaking of dad, how is he?”

Wisely, Victoria let the matter drop. Her daughter could be headstrong when she chose to be and it would not do to push her buttons. Victoria would bring up the matter later, when Erin was in a better frame of mind.

“Your father is doing well.” she replied with a smile. “He had to leave for Chicago on business..something to do with the shareholders. It seemed urgent anyway.”

Erin leaned forward, her curiosity awakened. “Is there a problem with the stock market? I haven’t heard anything on the news about it.”

Victoria shrugged. “I don’t know, all he said was that someone was persuading shareholders to sell and buying them up when they did, nothing else.”

Her phone rang, and she dug in her bag for it, taking out the copy of The Cosmopolitan she’d stuffed in there earlier and laid it face up on the table.

Erin glanced at the magazine then did a double take and reaches for it, staring at the man on the cover.

Her eyes widened as Ethan Lachlan’s face stared back at her with an implacable look, those eyes hauntingly familiar, even though it had been five years since Erin had seen that face.

He looked breathtaking in a dark business suit, dark hair immaculately styled, not a hair out of place.

The headline was titled, ’The Perfect Blend of Sex Appeal and Success.

Erin flipped open the pages and read the article within, her heart hammering wildly. The feature hailed Ethan as America’s sexiest entrepreneur, starting with a small construction company and turning it into a booming business, worthy of being in the Fortune 500 ranks.

She read till the end then set the magazine back on the table and gazed off in the distance.

At her urging, Nicky had broken up with Ethan a week after that ill-fated dinner. Erin’s lips twisted, recalling Nicky’s report of how easily Ethan had taken the news.

That had only strengthened Erin’s opinion of the man’s true feelings for her cousin. No man, who claimed to be in love, would simply let his woman walk away without so much as a word or an attempt to win her back.

Erin had bid him good riddance and thrown herself into comforting Nicky. Eventually, Nicky had moved on, meeting Ryan Silverton a year later, and after three years, the man had proposed.

She heard her mother gasp, and looked up, alarm washing over her at her mother’s shocked white face.

“Mum?” she called out, rising to her feet and crossing to her mother’s side. “Mum. What’s wrong? What is it?”

Victoria lifted stricken eyes to her daughter trying to force words out from her constricted throat. Finally she managed to gasp out. “Your father, he’s had a heart attack.”

*****

Erin stood by her father’s hospital bed, gazing at him through tear filled eyes.

“What do you mean dad?” she demanded, her voice trembling with the force of her emotions. “We’ve lost control of the company? That’s impossible!”

Harold Gosling looked white and strained, though he put up a brave front for his daughter.

“Not impossible,” he rasped, wincing at the rawness in his throat from the breathing tubes he’d had to endure for the past four days. Even though it had been removed, his throat still hurt when he spoke.

Victoria shot a stern look at Erin. “Leave your father be Erin. He needs to rest, the questions can come later.”

“It’s alright, I need to tell her what’s happened.” Harold waved aside his wife’s admonishment and looked to his daughter again. “Last week, I received a report from our stock brokers saying that someone had been approaching Gosling shareholders and making irresistible offers in return for their shares and had managed to acquire a huge percentage of stock, enough to have a controlling interest in the company. And, I need not tell you how disastrous that is for us.”

Erin listened with a sinking feeling, her mind struggling to process her father’s words. How was it even possible that such a massive buyout had been going on right under their noses and no one had even suspected anything wrong?

The very idea was preposterous! Gosling Hotels belonged to the family and no one could take that away.

She gripped the rails at the foot of the bed till her knuckles turned white and looked at her father. He looked so frail and tired, even worse was the look of defeat in those eyes, so like her own. She had never seen him this way before. Harold Gosling had always been a symbol of strength and determination and to watch him like this filled her with misery.

The door of the private room opened and someone peered in. Erin recognized the craggy pale face and mane of gray hair as belonging to Joseph Young, the company’s lawyer.

His serious eyes took in the small gathering and his boss lying on the bed in one glance. “May I come in?”

Victoria looked like she wanted to refuse but held her tongue and turned her attention back to her husband, taking his limp hand in both of hers. Since her mother was not going to reply, Erin nodded for Joe to come in, moving away to stand by the windows, arms folded across her chest.

“Joe!” Harold said by way of acknowledgment. “What news?”

Joe cast a quick glance in Erin’s direction, unsure if it was proper to bring up the discussion while Harold was still weak. Erin nodded at him to answer, curiosity eating away at her.

Joe cleared his throat. “The good news is, the family still holds a majority of shares, fifty-six percent to be exact, while Holbourn Enterprises managed to gain control of -”

“Holbourn?” Erin cut in, eyes widening in shock. She gaped at the lawyer, distrusting her ears. “Did you just say Holbourn? The Holbourn Enterprises?”

He gave her a searching look, slightly baffled by her reaction to the name. “Yes, Holbourn Enterprises is behind the buyout, cleverly done though -”

Erin blanked out the rest of his words as her brain screamed the same word over and over again.

Holbourn. A tremor ran through her entire body and she felt her legs turn to jelly. Mercifully, there was a seat nearby and she lowered herself onto it, her mind in a daze.

There had to be some sort of mistake, she reasoned, frantically running through the possibilities. Holbourn...Ethan’s company had just all but effected a hostile takeover of Gosling Hotels. Why?

What sort of game was he playing, and why now? Why had he chosen to spring this after nearly five years of virtually no word or indication of a vendetta against her family?

A picture of him- the same one in the magazine rose in her mind and she shivered at the memory of those cold ruthless eyes staring up at her from the cover.

“Erin?” her father’s voice broke into her thoughts and she started in mild shock, looking up to find them all watching her with varying expressions ranging from worry to puzzlement. “Are you alright? You’ve gone pale.”

“I’m fine.” she replied. An idea took root in her mind and she rose, grabbing her purse while aware they were watching her in surprise. “I have to go out, I’ll be back as soon as possible, there’s something important I have to do.”

Ignoring the bewildered looks thrown her way, she hurried out.

Outside the hospital, she hailed a taxi and gave him directions then sat back as the driver pulled into the busy traffic, her mind in turmoil.