power he'd have made sure the man died for hurting her.

A long, slow, merciless death.

She swallowed around the knot in her throat and forced herself to

continue.

"He grabbed a rock and hit me. I don't remember anything after that. I

found out later that John and William had: been looking all over for me.

They heard me screaming, but' by the time they got there, I was

unconscious and he was on top of me;,."

Words dogged in her throat.

She hadn't talked about this for a very long time, and she faltered at

the mask of menace that had d~ sc ended over his features.

Then her trepidation was wiped away when he reached out pulled her into

his arms, sinking back onto his ] his face in her hair, he squeezed her tightly.

She'd been raped.

The stark, ugly truth pounded inside his skull.

His fur, great that he shook from it.

He rocked her back and forth arms, soothing her, trying to calm

himself, not sure if he was pable of either.

One hand threaded through her hair, I: head Her voice was husky when she spoke again.

"I woke up the next day after surgery, and the man was already in

jail.

William and John had caught him, and they provided the ID. He pleaded

no contest. I didn't even have to go to court."

"How old were you?"

"Fifteen,"

she whispered.

He closed his eyes in pain.

He could envision her at that age, all long, swinging hair and wide

eyes.

At an age when she should have been acquiring boyfriends and the art offlirting, her life had been shattered in a way that he could barelycomprehend.

The lessons she'd learned then hadn't been on new hairstyles and themysteries of teenage boys, they'd been in the random cruelty of life,and how to t2!

ck up the pieces and go on.

He rose suddenly and reached for her hand, pulling her to her feet.

She didn't question his sudden movement as 'he led her out of the room

and down the stairs.

He opened the front door and crossed to the porch swing, her wrist still in his hand.

Then he sank down in one corner, and the tug on her wrist urged her

next to him.They swung silently for a time, she exhausted from the retelling."Your father never said a word about this to me,"he said tersely."Not when he hired me, not later. Not one word.""I'm not surprised,"she said quietly."He's never spoken of it to me, either."She watched the sun sink behind the horizon pensively."My father loves me very much. But he spent his whole life trying to shield my mother and me from life. I think,.. he just couldn't dealwith the fact that he hadn't been able to do that. Thinking about whathappened to me was just too painful for him, and he couldn't talk about.i.t. Not to anyone."

Mac frowned fiercely.

"Surely your mother knew."

Raineshook her head.

"There was no telling what the truth would have done to her heart. She

was told I'd had an accident, but that I'd be all right. There was no other way my father could explain my absence from the house to herwhile I was in the hospital."

"He wouldn't let you talk to your mother about it?"

Mac was amazed at her father's selfishness.

Raine had been a young girl, confused and frightened, her body and

spirit violated.

Surely her mother would have wanted to know when her youngest child wasin need.

What kind of b.a.s.t.a.r.d would make that decision for someone else?

"I wouldn't do that,"

she whispered.

"I couldn't handle it if she had another heart attack because of me. I

couldn't take that chance. I talked to counselors while I was in the hospital."

"And after?"

"Afterward my father sold-our house and moved us to Burbank. He thought getting me away from the place where it had happened would help in the healing process."

He'd thought it would be easier to forget that way, Mac thought

bitterly.

He remembered Grady's surprise when he'd heard his old friend had left from the area.

Simon probably hadn't even told him the mason.

As if, by keeping silent and moving away, he could erase what had happened.

"That's what I've seen sometimes, in your eyes."

His voice was low.

"I wondered what could have made you so strong. All through this case

you've taken everything that's been thrown at you, and bounced back."

He tipped her chin up with one finger.

"You're a fighter, Raine. And you're also one of the strongest' people

I've ever met." His words embarra.s.sed her, especially since she knewhow wrong they were. " I'm not brave, and I'm not strong," shecontradicted, jerking her chin away. " You don't know how long it tookme to get my life back to something resembling normal.

You don't know how many times I failed.

" Her voice tapered off into little more than a whisper. " There'sstill so much I'm afraid of." " Like hospitals?" Her gaze flew to meet his, and he knew that he was right. " I saw you, remember?

You didn't want to see a doctor, but you forced yourself to do it.