Smiling maybe with head of aged American appearing in sea (6)
I believe the answer is:
amused
'smiling maybe' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'head of aged american appearing in sea' is the wordplay.
'head of' says to take the initial letters.
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'appearing in' is an insertion indicator.
'sea' becomes 'med' (abbreviation of Mediterranean).
The initial letter of 'aged' is 'a'.
'us' placed into 'med' is 'mused'.
'a'+'mused'='AMUSED'
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for amused that I've seen before include "Kept someone entertained" , "Medusa (anag)" , "Beguiled" , "Tickled pink" , "Victoria reputedly wasn't" .)