Maggie And The Maverick. Laurie Grant

the next morning.

      This must be Garrick’s brother Caleb, the sheriff, Maggie thought as she looked up from where she was doing the layout of a rate card for advertising in the Gazette. She saw the same lean, high-cheekboned features, though Caleb Devlin’s upper lip was graced with a dashing mustache, where Garrick’s was austerely bare. Caleb’s one good eye was of a paler hue than Garrick’s, almost a gray-blue, but both brothers possessed faces that reflected the presence of pain, past or present.

      “Cal, I can’t take your money,” protested Garrick, returning the grin. “You’re my brother! I saved you a copy, gratis.”

      “Aw, brother, you’re never gonna be a rich newspaperman if you keep refusing money—” the tall lawman began, and then Maggie saw him notice her.

      In an instant, he swept off his broad-brimmed hat and smiled at her. “Sweeney told me about your new pressman—um, lady,” he said, speaking to his brother, a teasing glint in his eye.

      “Yes…M. L. Harper was not quite as I expected him to be,” Garrick replied dryly. “Miss Harper, this is my brother, Cal Devlin.”

      Maggie stepped forward, encouraged by the sheriffs warm smile, and offered her hand.

      “Mr. Devlin, I’m Margaret Harper.”

      He took her hand and shook it. “Miss Harper,” he murmured in that molasses-and-honey drawl that flowed from Southerners so effortlessly. “Call me Cal. Welcome to Gillespie Springs. I see you still have your head, so my big brother must not have bitten it off yet—good! Don’t let him. His bark is worse than his bite, anyway. I hear you have lots of newspaper experience, so my brother’s lucky you answered his ad. Don’t let him forget it.”

      “Cal, if you’re quite finished subverting my authority over my employee,” Garrick said with heavy irony, “we have work to do here, and—”

      The bell over the door tinkled again, and a dark-haired woman stepped inside, a joyous smile lighting her attractive features.

      “Garrick, I just heard the newspaper was out!” she announced, coming forward to stand by Caleb’s side. “Congratulations on the start of your business!” She planted a kiss on Garrick Devlin’s cheek.

      “Why, thank you, Olivia…” Garrick murmured, reddening slightly.

      Maggie, still standing near her employer, felt her jaw drop for a second. Wasn’t Garrick Devlin wearing a black armband as a sign of mourning for his wife? Who was this woman?