Chapter Five
She woke him well before dawn. Cedric did not have a sore head from drink, though he’d toasted Lucy’s success several times. He’d been drinking water because that was all he could afford. And all his toasts had been made silently as he watched her remain rosy-cheeked throughout dinner.
She was proud of herself, and that pleased him. He liked it when ladies were happy, especially the shy ones. But if he expected her delight to continue into the morning, he discovered his error when she roused him while it was still full dark.
‘Good God, what time is it? And what are you wearing?’ And why were her shoulders tight and her mouth pinched?
‘The first customer of the day cannot be denied otherwise the entire day will go sour. You’re the customer. I’m the servant.’ She spoke while stuffing her hair into a sailor’s cap. In fact, everything she wore was a rough sailor’s outfit, probably taken from her sister.
‘You still look like a girl,’ he said. Damn, he was being surly. He needed to wake up.
‘Not with my face dirty. And if you treat me like a boy, they’ll think I’m a boy.’
Right. ‘Let me get some clothes on.’
‘Rich ones,’ she said. Her father appeared over her shoulder. He wore his usual attire that set him somewhere between a sailor who wasn’t foolish with his money and a ship’s owner who didn’t dress fancy. Which meant no one could tell exactly who he was.
‘You don’t need to come with us,’ her father said. ‘I can keep an eye on things.’
‘Oh no, sir. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’ That was the truth. Unfortunately, he punctuated it with a yawn.
Five minutes later he was on deck and ready to disembark. She came up behind him, speaking in a low voice. ‘You understand what you’re doing?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ He turned to her. Even in shadow, he could see that she was nervous. She resembled her sister as she continued to fidget with everything. Her clothes, her feet, and mostly her gaze as she looked everywhere.
‘I told you. You’re the customer.’ She gestured at the eastern horizon. ‘I only know of one merchant here, and I’m not sure of his address. We have to find him first.’
‘First before what?’
‘Before anyone else. We have to be the first customer. They will do anything—even accept a low price—to make sure the first customer buys something.’
‘Because if they don’t, it will be a bad sales day?’
She nodded. ‘At least that is the way in China. Among the…the…’ She frowned, clearly not knowing the English word.
‘The superstitious? People who believe in curses, magic and the like.’
She nodded. ‘Yes. That’s it. But not so strong. It is the custom among business people. And the merchants I know are very…very…’
‘Superstitious.’
‘Yes. That.’
She tugged at her clothing. For a woman normally so composed, this was unsettling. ‘Relax,’ he said. ‘You’ve done this before.’ At least he assumed she had.
‘No. Yes.’ She shrugged. ‘But not for many years. And usually as the seller. They would bring me out for the customers who tried to take advantage like this.’ She shrugged. ‘It makes no difference if a cursed child has a bad day.’
‘You are not a cursed child,’ he grumbled. He’d learned that in Asia, mixed-race children were often considered cursed or a half person. He had only to spend five minutes with her to know she was nothing so simple as that. She was a full, fascinating person, and he would not allow anyone—including herself—to speak of her like that.
‘And you must pay attention to my knees.’
Clearly, he was not awake yet. He could not have heard her correctly.
At his blank look, she pointed to her knees under her rough pants. ‘My knees.’
He liked looking there. She had beautiful calves and very trim ankles, though it looked like she had dirtied them.
‘My knees!’ she said again, as she twisted her leg such that her left knee turned in or out.