He wasn’t touching her now, but that persuasiveness mixed with total honesty was strangely overwhelming. And it was true he had committed himself to helping them, and she believed he would do it. She looked away from him. “I don’t like to think about it. It was…ugly.”

“Then forget it.” He went still. “If it had anything to do with Volkov, I’m sure it was,” he said quietly. “But the ugliness only had to do with Volkov. Not with you. Whatever he did to you, it didn’t touch who you are.”

Her gaze flew back to his face. “You think he raped me?”

“I wasn’t sure…He didn’t?”