He met her gaze, frowned ever so slightly and lifted his beer towards her wine glass, which sat empty on the coffee table. ‘Cheers,’ he said.
She picked up the glass and clinked it against his, but said nothing.
‘What?’ he asked.
‘I did that DNA test.’ She watched his face, enjoying seeing his confusion at her defiance. He’d warned her against it.
He shook his head, raising his eyebrows. ‘What the hell did you do that for?’
‘Maybe I’m sick of lies. You want to know what the results told me?’ She held his gaze, daring him to ask.
‘What?’
‘Turns out I’m not an Ashworth.’ She didn’t know where the lie came from, but it came to her fully formed. ‘Mum must have had an affair, because my father’s a panel beater from Canberra. I spoke to him. He worked here in Hartwell at the hotel for a while, thirty-one years ago.’
He scowled. ‘What are you talking about?’
Issy just shrugged. Cool.
‘It has to be a mistake, it can’t be right.’
‘It’s not a mistake.’ She swallowed hard. ‘And I know about the cheating.’
His head snapped up. ‘What cheating? You mean Marshall?’
‘No.’ She met his small, dark eyes. ‘I mean you.’
Hugh’s expression was indignant disbelief. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Don’t lie to me, Hugh, you’ll just make yourself look stupid.’
His face hardened. An accusation of stupidity was his Achilles heel. He’d told her that once as they lay naked in bed, in a rare moment of vulnerability. His father had been convinced Hugh was stupid, a fact confirmed when he missed out on law at Sydney by a couple of marks. According to his father, nowhere else was good enough for a Thorburn. He’d pulled some strings and after a year of engineering, Hugh had been offered a place in a Bachelor of Laws and a room at St Paul’s College. But his father had never let him forget that he didn’t get the marks to get in.
Issy couldn’t read his face. At first, she thought he was about to cry, but then the set of his jaw tightened.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said again.
She slid the enormous solitaire off her ring finger and placed it on the coffee table.
He looked from her face to the diamond, then back again. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I want you to leave.’
‘What? Issy, I don’t know what’s happened, I don’t know why you’re doing this. I love you!’
‘No, you don’t. You love Isobel Ashworth.’
‘YouareIsobel Ashworth! What the hell are you talking about?’ Any softness in his eyes was gone now. She could feel the fury coursing through his body. He stretched his fingers, open and closed, making a fist. ‘What the actual hell are you talking about? I’m too tired for this crap—’
‘You can stay at the hotel until you’ve found somewhere else to live. I’ll let Jeffrey know to expect you.’
‘Please, Issy, please.’ Tears spilled down his cheeks now.
She felt a twinge of embarrassment at seeing him like this. He reached out to touch her leg, but she flinched.
‘Don’t touch me.’ Her voice sounded cold, even to her own ears. He pulled his hand away and stood up, simmering with rage. As he walked past the door, he slammed his fist into the mirror, glass fragments smashing across the floor.
Chapter 51
