His Revenge (Power Play #1)

Chapter 1

Five Years Later

The taxi pulled up in front of the Gosling Hotels and Towers and the driver switched off the engine and turned to the passenger seated behind him. She was staring out the window with an absent expression on her rather attractive face, not even realizing that they had arrived at their destination.

"We're here love." The cabbie said gently.

Erin started slightly, turning from the window and blinked at him in confusion for a few seconds before her hazel eyes cleared and she flushed. "Sorry, I was thinking about something..." she muttered, digging into her purse for the cab fare. She paid him, gathered the huge stack of shopping 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 doorman who hurried forward to take the bags from her. "Hello Jarvis." 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?"

Erin thanked him and headed off towards the open center 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 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 that." 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 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 over working yourself again?"

"Mum, you say that every time you see me." Erin said, amused. "And like I keep telling you, I am 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 replied. "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 third time she'd cried off dinner with his parents in the past year- but in her defense, she'd been swamped with work, the hotel had been playing host to a group of top business men from all over the country and Erin had needed to make sure the meals served had been nothing less than perfect.