Jherek stepped back before she could go any further. He was suddenly acutely aware of the other ship's mates halting their work to watch. Even the other Amnians aboard paused in their endless conversations of money and exchange rates to watch him.
"Instead," the Amnian woman said, "I came to you. You should be flattered."
"Lady," Jherek said helplessly. He felt certain that he was the brunt of some joke he didn't understand, but he had no idea what to do about it.
"I am called Yeill," she said. "I am the favorite daughter of Merchant Lelayn." She raised an arched eyebrow. "You are familiar with Merchant Lelayn, aren't you?"
"Aye," Jherek replied. "Of course." Merchant Lelayn had hired Finaren's Butterfly to take the Amnian party to Baldur's Gate for trading, then bring their cargo back home to Athkatla, also known as the City of Coin, in Amn. He wished he'd been quicker with the ropes and had gone back up into the rigging before the woman had caught him, but he had no one to blame but himself. Over the last few days of the trip she must have seen him gazing at her.
"Good," Yeill stated. "I thought there might be some brains inside that pretty head of yours, though they aren't all that necessary for what I have in mind." She placed a hand on his bicep, squeezing the muscles there. "You are in very good shape."
Jherek flushed red, feeling the burn across his cheeks, like he'd faced the wind for an entire shift at the tiller. He gazed past her, noting a small group of white heggrims flying low around the cog. The birds kept pace with the ship, waiting for any garbage that might be thrown overboard.
Finaren's Butterfly skimmed smoothly across the water, rocking back and forth across the swells. The ship's colorful sails gave her her name and the few remaining that weren't damaged from the recent storm belled out, catching the wind. Other hands hung in the rigging, repairing the storm damage.
"So how much for a few hours of your time, boy?" she asked again. "I'm willing to pay you, though after the way I've seen you mooning after me, I know I wouldn't have to."
It was his fault. Jherek dropped his eyes from hers, no longer able to look at her even out of politeness. She had caught him gazing at her. It was his ill luck that had followed him all of his life showing itself again. There was never a day that he wasn't forced to remember that it dogged his every step. His tongue felt thick, and no words came to it.
"I have heard you called Jherek," she said. "Is that your name?"
"Aye, lady." Jherek struggled to get the words through his tight throat. "If I've offered you any affront, I apologize. The captain would have the skin from my back for such a thing."
She smiled. "I've no doubt that he would. Your Captain Finaren seems a man the Amnian can easily understand. His life revolves around his bottom line, and how well he can line his pockets, but you've offered me no affront."
Jherek felt relieved, only wanting to scurry up the rigging and get away from the woman's gaze. He'd fought pirates and sea creatures for the future of Finaren's Butterfly, but he felt naked and outmatched talking to the woman.
"Thank you, lady."
"Yet," she added, lifting both brows again. Curious lights, like embers, flew through her dark eyes. "Would you deny me the pleasure of your company then, young Jherek?"
"Lady, I have no way with social graces, and I lack in my education," Jherek said honestly. He knew he was lying, though. Madame litaar and Malorrie had seen to his education since he was twelve, and they had both been demanding taskmasters.
"I'm not looking for a gifted conversationalist, Jherek."
Yeill swirled her cape around herself, revealing the lean body cloaked beneath. "My father has done well with his trading in Baldur's Gate. I can afford to be generous."
"There are many other crewmen," Jherek said.
"You are by far the most handsome."
Jherek flushed again. Never had a woman been so shameless in her pursuit. Even the scullery maids of the Figureheadless Tavern along the eastern dock walk in Velen were not so forceful.
"Perhaps you've not seen me in good light, lady," he said.
"Can it be?" she asked with obvious delight. "Handsome and modest?" She wrinkled her brow, then a smile dawned on her crimson lips. "Or is there more to it?"
Jherek shouldered the rope. "I have to get back to work, otherwise it will be the barnacle detail for a month for me if the captain finds me dallying."
Yeill's voice sharpened. "You'll stay here till I say you can go, boy."
Part of the old resentment at being unfairly commanded and ordered welled up in Jherek, and it almost loosened his tongue before he seized control of it. "Aye, lady."
"My father hired this ship and all the men aboard it to see to our needs during our voyage," the Amnian woman stated. "That work won't be shirked."
Jherek bowed his head, using the motion to break the eye contact. "Aye, lady."
"How old are you, boy?"
"Nineteen."
"Yet you are only a deckhand, not a mate."
"I've not had the promise of potential."
"Then your captain lacks ability in picking his men. When the storm wracked this ship yesterday morn, you were the first to climb up into the rigging and cut the ropes to save at least some of the sails."
"I don't think I was the first." Jherek knew that he was, though. The rigging held no fears for him, even in the worst of storms.
She ran her eyes over him again, lingering on the apron across his narrow hips. "Tell me, boy, have you never been with a woman before?"
Jherek steeled himself and faced her. His answers had to be his own and truthful, and she was demanding them. "No."
She stroked his face with the back of her hand. "With your looks, that has to be by choice."
Jherek reached up and captured her hand in his, then slowly removed it from his face. "Aye."
"You do like women?"
"Not all of those I've met," Jherek told her, skating the thin line of insubordination, "but in the way you mean, aye."
"Do you find me unattractive then?"
"I think you're a very beautiful woman."
"So you're content to merely look at me?" Her gaze mocked him.
"I don't know you," Jherek said, "nor do you know me."
"I'm willing to get to know you," Yeill stated forcefully, "and pay you for the opportunity."
"I'm not for sale. Not that way." Jherek released her hand and took a step back, just out of her reach. Nausea touched his stomach in response to her offer.
"Ridiculous," the Amman woman snapped. "Everyone is for sale."
"Not me," Jherek said.
She raked him with her fiery eyes. "You tread in dangerous waters, boy. Maybe you don't remember who you're dealing with."
"I remember."
"Do you realize the insult you offer me, boy?"
"There's no insult intended. You asked for something that I'm not prepared to sell."
"You think so much of it, then?"
Jherek wished he could have said more. She would have understood had she been where he'd been, had lived on as little as he'd been given in his early life. There was so little left that was truly his.
"What you ask for can't be bought, lady, only given."
"You speak of hearts, boy."
"I speak of love."
She laughed at him derisively and asked, "You believe such a thing exists?"
"I want to believe," Jherek said. In truth, he didn't know, but he wasn't prepared to settle for anything less than the true love Malorrie's tales had told of.