Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood Page A

not lately. “Then tonight was about helping me.”
    He nodded. “And clearing up a few details about your interview with Jorguson.”
    “Right, Jorguson. Our discussion could have been done over the phone, couldn’t it?”
    “Yes,” he admitted. “But this was more fun.”
    She agreed. “Then thank you. I did have fun tonight. Meeting James Crowell was a dream come true.”
    He laughed. “Yeah?”
    Grayson loosened his tie as he steered the car into traffic. He didn’t say anything for several minutes and seemed perfectly relaxed. He was a real enigma, a man who was just as comfortable tackling thugs as he was socializing with the rich and powerful.
    Olivia wasn’t good at small talk, and the silence was making her feel uneasy. She took a breath and blurted, “You make me nervous, but you know that, don’t you?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    She expected him to ask her why he made her nervous and wondered what she would tell him, but he didn’t ask. Maybe he knew why and could explain it to her. She really had enjoyed herself tonight. It had been a long time since she had gotten all dressed up and gone out with such a handsome man. A long, long time.
    She should get into the game, she thought. Then she remembered her father and what was coming, and she pushed the notion of getting involved with any man aside.
    Her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number.
    “This is Olivia MacKenzie.”
    One of her clients was on the line. “Olivia, it’s Tyler.” The voice was hushed and brimming with fear. He had said her name once, and so she put up one finger. “Everything’s fine, Olivia.” Two fingers up. “I just wanted you to know that I’m back home with my uncle and aunt, Olivia, and everything is okay.”
    She heard someone speaking in the background, and then Tyler said, “They don’t want you to worry and have to look for me. You won’t, will you?”
    “Now that I know you’re okay, Tyler,” she said, deliberately saying his name so he would know she understood the threat, “I won’t worry.”
    “I’ve got to hang up now.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “He just went into the kitchen. There are two other men here, and they’re really mad. They say my uncle wants too much money. They have guns, Olivia. I’m so scared . . . should I hide? I’m going to hide.”
    “I’m on my way.”
    The line went dead. Olivia quickly found the address recorded in her phone and rattled it off to Grayson. “A little boy is in danger,” she said and then repeated what Tyler had told her. “I’m sorry, there isn’t time for you to take me home so I can get my car. Besides, I’m going to need your help. We have to get there quickly.”
    “Call nine-one-one and request a squad car to meet us.”
    Grayson had pulled onto the ramp and was now blazing down the expressway. He also called for backup and was patched through to his partner, Agent Ronan Conrad.
    “Ronan, where are you?”
    “On my way home. What do you need?”
    Grayson told him where he was headed and filled him in on the situation. “I’m on my way,” Ronan answered.
    “We’ll be there in five minutes,” Grayson said.
    “Make it faster,” Olivia urged, her voice strained. “Five minutes might be too long.”
    He pushed the accelerator. “Tell me about Tyler.”
    “He’s ten years old and was removed from his uncle’s house and put in a safe house. The Purdys—the uncle and the aunt—are drug dealers, and they were using Tyler to deliver the product.”
    “Which is?”
    “Cocaine and meth. Mostly meth these days,” she added. “The aunt and uncle are twisted. The aunt has this thing about blood and family. Inside that sick mind of hers she believes she owns Tyler now that his parents are in prison.”
    “It doesn’t sound like the kid ever had a chance,” he remarked.
    “Judge Bowen was his savior. He put Tyler with a good family and severed all parental rights. The aunt and uncle were never given custody, and