The Stolen Heart

The Stolen Heart
Volume Two of
The Starbuck Saga
Jacinta Carey

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

 

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

 

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTY

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

 

 

AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD

 

 

MORE TITLES BY AUTHOR

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

Nantucket, 1838

 

 

Almira Hussey is a desperate young woman. Her father’s ship has been
reported lost at sea, her mother is seriously ill, she has two
younger sisters to take care of, and her brother had just shipped
out on a whaler she soon discovers is a hell ship.

 

 

When her mother dies, Almira grows determined to secure a better
life for them all. A three-year stint at sea on a whaler will give
her the money she needs to apprentice her sisters to a decent trade
and support herself. With any luck, she might even be able to rescue
her brother and find news of her father's fate.

 

 

Almira disguises herself as a man and throws herself upon the mercy
of famous whaler captain Jared Starbuck, said to have the Devil’s
own luck turning a profit. He agrees to sign on the puny lad as a
cabin boy, and pay the apprenticeship articles for her sisters as an
advance on her wages.

 

 

It seems a dream come true for Almira, especially when she begins to
fall in love with her handsome captain.

 

 

Jared soon begins to wonder if there is more to ‘Al’ than meets the
eye. Uncovering her disguise at last, there is no resisting the
magnetic attraction between them.

 

 

Jared doesn't believe the whaling life is the right one for the
woman he loves, but a run-in with the notorious pirate Xavier
Delgado makes him glad Almira is on board.

 

 

Almira must outwit Delgado to save the crew and the man she has come
to love above all else from certain death. And together Jared and
Almira must risk all to navigate the most perilous waters of the
Atlantic and Pacific if she is ever to save her family.

 

 

"You’ve done nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about, Captain.
You’re forgetting, I'm not your usual society damsel. I grew up on a
ship. There is nothing that has disturbed my peace of mind on this
trip, believe me. You and Cook have been most solicitous of my
well-being, and I could never think ill of you.”

 

 

“I just wish he hadn’t encouraged you to go on the grog and
tobacco,” he said with a grimace.

 

 

She giggled. “It was to put the Mate off the scent. I wasn't truly
partaking. But now that he’s gone….”

 

 

“You will cease and desist immediately, and if I catch you swearing
a blue streak again, I shall wash your mouth out with soap.”

 

 

She grinned up at him.

 

 

“On second thoughts, I might have something better for you to do
with your mouth.”

 

 

He leaned over and kissed her, tentatively at first, but more warmly
as she responded in kind.

 

 

His warm hard hands flowed over her shoulders and neck, causing her
to shiver with desire. Her nipples hardened, and she was glad she
had drawn up her knees to her chest so that he could not see her
ardent response to his ministrations.

 

 

But as his hands became more and more slippery, he stroked down her
sides, lightly pressing against her breasts. She held her breath as
the most incredible sensations coursed through her, and then his
hand moved down further, toward her abdomen and hips, before moving
back up again. She felt like a cat being stroked and petted, and she
was most certainly more than ready to purr.

 

 

“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. “I shouldn’t have dared.”

 

 

“I don’t mind,” she whispered, feeling as though she were floating
on the brink of the most tempestuous storm….

 

 

 

The Stolen Heart
Volume Two of
The StarbuckSaga
Jacinta Carey

 

 

 

Copyright the author 2008

 

All rights reserved.

 

 

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information and storage retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

 

 

Under the 1988 UK copyright laws, the author asserts the right to be
identified as the creator of this work.

 

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to
any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely
coincidental.

 

 

Published by HerStory Books.

 

http://herstorybooks.com

 

 

HerStory Books is pleased to publish high-quality romances in a
variety of genres. Please visit us online for the latest titles, and
a free newsletter, free novels and short stories, and more:
http://herstorybooks.com/category/xciting-free-reads

 

 

Love our novels? Don’t forget to post reviews at our site and on
Amazon. You can win free books each month just for posting reviews
at the site.

 

 

You can also get free novels through our Referral Program:

 

http://herstorybooks.com/referral-program-free-book

 

 

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

“Come on, lad, put your back into it!” the first mate shouted,
giving Al a resounding thump upon said body part for emphasis.

 

 

“Ease up on the little chap, will you?” Captain Jared Starbuck
called mildly from the deck of the
Trident
. “He’s not even
supposed to be in the boats. He’s only a cabin boy.”

 

 

“It was your idea to train him, sir, not mine. A monkey would learn
quicker,” Mate fired back.

 

 

Jared shook his head. “A monkey can’t do sums, navigate, or sew and
cook. I’m not even sure they can climb the rigging as well as he
can. I’ve seldom seen such a natural talent for it. So stop
complaining and steer away from us now before you stove in the
whaleboat.”

 

 

“Stroke! Stroke! Better, boy,” Mate admitted grudgingly.

 

 

Almira gritted her teeth and cursed her own folly for the thousandth
time since she had come on board. But there was no help for it. She
had taken the advance in her wages working aboard the whaler in
order to pay for her sisters’ apprenticeships to kind Mrs. Jenkins
the seamstress. She had made her decision, and simply had to endure,
no matter how difficult the work was.

 

 

It had been the hardest decision of her life, only made bearable by
three ardent hopes. The first was that her sisters would be happy
and well provided for whilst she was away at sea.

 

 

She was confident of this, for Mrs. Jenkins was a poor lonely widow
with one grown son who lived far away. She adored children and
treated Amy and Alice as if they were her own daughters, so as long
as they were able to pay their way and worked well, they would be
set up for life, earning their keep, and more than marriageable when
the time came.

 

 

The second hope was that Captain Starbuck would catch up with her
brother’s ship, the
Dolphin
, and they could sail together.
The
Dolphin
and its captain had one of the worst reputations
in the entire New Bedford whaling fleet.

 

 

It was only after her brother had signed the shipping papers and was
in the launch bound for the mainland that they had discovered that
fact. Considering how disreputable most whalers were thought to be,
that was really saying something for the man’s cruelty and
depravity.

 

 

Adrian had left Nantucket weeks ago, and since then, Almira had been
worrying herself sick. She simply had to try to rescue her brother
before it was too late.

 

 

Finally, she recalled as she continued to row until her elbows and
shoulders were on fire, she needed to find out what had happened to
her father. He had sailed over four years ago, and been overdue for
six months.

 

 

None of the ships which had put into port had had any news of him. A
gam at the Bay of Islands in New Zealand almost a year before had
been the last anyone had heard or seen of the ship so far as she had
been able to establish through all of her incessant inquiries from
every seaman who had arrived back in Nantucket since expectation had
given way to uneasiness.

 

 

“All right, Mate, that’s enough for today,” Jared called.

 

 

Once the Mate told them they could at last ship their oars and get
back to the