• People began to gather around Drent, and one older man leered at Lily. “New toy, cap’n?”
    Drent grinned. “Off limits, Charley-”

    “Aw, keepin’ ‘er to yerself, eh?” Charley interrupted, laughing.

    He barely began to turn around when Lily was there, slapping his face with all of her strength. “I am not a ‘toy’ to be fondled, played with, or put on display, regardless of what you may think,” she said, her cheeks glowing pink. As she opened her mouth to say more, Drent was there, spinning her around to face him. She raised her hand to slap him as well, but he grabbed it… hard.

    “You will treat both me and my crew with respect at all times,” he said almost threateningly. “I am a man of my word, but if the need arises, I’ll break it…” he squeezed her wrist in emphasis, but Lily refused to acknowledge that she felt any pain, though her wrist would probably bruise.

    Drent looked around, realizing his entire crew was staring at him. He let go of her and smiled at the assembled men. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to our newest ‘guest,’ Lilianna Wil-”

    “Lily,” she interrupted.

    “Williamson…” Drent finished, casting a dark look at her. “Lilianna-”

    “Lily,” she interrupted again, folding her arms across her chest.

    “Can I help you?” Drent asked sarcastically, turning to face her and crossing his arms as well.

    “The only people that call me Lilianna are my parents and that old cod that got their permission to marry me,” she replied defiantly, glaring at Drent.

    “Very well then,” Drent said carefully, turning to face his crew again. “Lily joins us this fine day from the governor’s mansion… worth 150 thousand, but untouchable…”

    Lily opened her mouth to protest again, but Drent cut her off. “Grace!” he yelled. Lily frowned and looked around, expecting to see the crew fall to their knees in prayer. Instead, a tall shapely woman stepped out of the ranks of men and approached Drent.

    “Yes, my captain?” she asked, kissing his lips softly. Everything she wore accentuated her curves and the shirt she wore showed an extraordinary amount of skin. She was almost as tall as Drent, only a couple of inches separated them, and her dark, luscious hair fell in waves around her shoulders. Her large chocolate eyes seemed to always be laughing at some inner joke, and Lily averted her own honey eyes from the two.

    She pretended to be interested in the man scrubbing the deck until she heard Drent say, “Lily will be staying in my cabin. Take her there. Help her find some suitable ship clothes… and keep your eye on her…” Lily sensed there was some deeper meaning there, and raised her eyebrows accordingly.

    “Of course,” Grace said, taking Lily’s hand and leading her below deck.

    “You and the captain then…?” Lily began to ask, but Grace’s easy laughter interrupted her.

    “Oh no, love, we’re just good friends,” Grace assured her. She could tell Lily found this hard to believe, and smiled. “You are young yet, aren’t you?”

    “I-I’m eighteen…” Lily said uncertainly.

    “Younger than I thought!” Grace exclaimed with another easy laugh. “When Drent found me, I was twenty-one… that was three years ago. God, he must have been your age then…”

    “He’s only twenty-one?!” Lily asked, unable to keep genuine surprise out of her voice as she did the math.

    Grace laughed yet again and nodded. “He does have an air of being older, doesn’t he? Study his face, though, you’ll realize that he’s young yet. This is where you’ll be saying,” she said, abruptly changing the subject as she opened a door to the right. Lily stepped into the cabin, staring around at the various chests and the maps on the walls. “He has women’s clothes somewhere…” Grace muttered, looking around at all the clutter.

    “He has what!? Why?” Lily asked, snapping her head to look at Grace.

    “It’s called stealing,” a voice behind her said suddenly and Lily spun around to be face to face with Drent, who smiled. “Third chest by the window, love,” he said to Grace, keeping his eyes on Lily’s.

    As much as she didn’t want to, Lily averted her eyes, watching Grace sort through the clothes, frowning as she saw Drent’s smirk out of the corner of her eye.

    “Ah ha!” Grace called triumphantly, pulling out several garments and sending several others to the floor. A sigh escaped Drent’s lips as he made his way over to her.

    “Gracie, darling… remember, you’re not looking for clothes for yourself.”

    Grace’s face fell slightly and she cast a glance at Lily. Drent’s gaze followed and she felt as if they were both undressing her with their eyes. She crossed her arms and scowled, receiving one of Grace’s musical laughs and another of Drent’s smirks.

    “Shoo, shoo, now,” Grace said, flicking her wrists as Drent as if he were a mutt. “This is woman’s work now.”

    Drent smiled genuinely, kissing Grace’s forehead softly before turning to the door and Lily. She expected him to walk right past her and was surprised when he stopped in front of her, taking her hand in his and slowly bringing it up to his lips. For a brief moment, her honey eyes met his, and she was startled by what she found there. They were a vibrant blue and in them, she saw that he was indeed young, younger even than his twenty-one years. Yet at the same time, he seemed old and tired, but full of wisdom she couldn’t begin to imagine.
    He averted his gaze then, and she was left hungry for more. He let go of her hand, and she slowly brought it up to her chest, her eyes still locked on his face. With a small bow to the two women, he left his cabin, barely closing his door before he heard Grace erupt in a fit of giggles.

    He smiled, walking back to the deck. It would do Grace good, he decided, to have another woman on board.