The Hungry Heart
Book 2 of The Hunger of the Heart Series
Shannon Farrell
Canada and Ireland, 1847-48

Emer Nugent's saga continues as she and what remains of her family after their perilous crossing of the Atlantic on a coffin ship now face a whole new set of challenges once they reach Canada.

Emer and Dalton are more in love than ever, but his stunning betrayal of Emer and everyone aboard the Pegasus has the most horrific consequences for them all.

Dalton is powerless to stop the cascade effect his unwitting actions have set in motion, for his father Frederick Randall is nothing if not determined to run his son's life.

Frederick's blind ambition has set its sights on the Lyndon Shipwork's steam fleet, which he plans to get his hands on by forcing Dalton to marry the voluptuous but coldly calculating Madeleine Lyndon.

Emer and her family are caught in an epic battle of wills  as she and her family are condemned by Frederick to the hellish quaratine station at Grosse Ile.  Once there, every moment brings with it yet another threat to their survival.

Can Dalton get his father to see reason before it's too late? Or will Emer and Dalton's love become just another casualty of the Famine, and Frederick's war with his son?

 
"I didn't come here to talk to you about the way you've been lying to us all about your real identity.  I, well, I came to see Mr. Randolph, so I could say goodbye to him," Emer said quietly.

Dalton looked up at her again searchingly, almost as if too frightened to hope that she was really sincere.

"The steamship doesn't leave until eight in the morning.   You could say goodbye then," Dalton whispered softly, testing her.

"There are certain things that can't be said in front of the others. Besides, I think we've done enough talking, don't you?  Actions speak louder than words, so I just came to tell you this...."

Emer sat on his lap and kissed Dalton.

His arms went around her at once.  She melted into them as she surrendered herself completely to the exquisite pleasure that only his touch could give...
 

The Hungry Heart
Book 2 of The Hunger of the Heart Series
Shannon Farrell
Setting: Canada and Ireland, 1847-48
Word Count: 84,000
Rating: Sensual
    

CHAPTER ONE

The cry of "Land Ho" had stunned everyone in the middle of Emer Nugent's sisters' wedding party.

All of the people on the deck of the Pegasus dispersed to press against the rails, trying to catch their first glimpse of Canada, which was to be their new home.

Emer pushed out of her aqua eyes a lock of burgundy hair that the wind had whipped into it.  Then she sighed.

She couldn't help but notice the contrast between the number of people who had stood on deck taking their last glimpse of Ireland when they had left their homeland so many weeks ago, with the relative handful now seeing Canada for the first time. Despite all her efforts to help both passengers and crew, this coffin ship had truly lived up to its name.

And as Dalton had predicted, they still had at least another couple of weeks before they could even hope to be on dry land once more. How many more would suffer and die before they ever reached Quebec?

Emer moved over to the rigging as if in a daze, and climbed up a short distance to watch the jagged coastline go past.

"Look, Emer, land," the younger of her two sisters cried, pointing.

Cara's new husband Reamann gave his bride a resounding kiss.

Emer saw her other new brother-in-law Michael cross himself, then lean on Brona's shoulder as she took him back down to the hold to rest once more after their wedding. The poor man still looked weak with fever, and completely exhausted.

Emer longed for Dalton's arms around her as she surveyed the rugged coastline. She envied Cara her bright, shining happiness at the prospect of sharing her future in her new home with the man she loved.

She looked out at the stony cliffs, and thought how desolate her own life was now that she and Dalton would have to part. He would return to his real life, while she would have to face the prospect of trying to keep her family together and alive now that they were in Canada with no home, jobs, food or money to speak of.

As bad as it had been in Ireland for them when the Potato Famine had begun, at least they had had all those things. And each other.

Now her mother and sisters were gone, and her in-laws and friends dead or ill. There were far fewer of them now, but she knew her challenges in the New World had only just begun.

Her young brother Cathan looked up at her with shining eyes. "We've made it, Sis. We're here."

"Aye, lad, so we are."

She tried to muster some enthusiasm as everyone cheer, gaped, or admired by turns.

"Does that island have a name?" she asked Charlie, who, though still sore and peeling from the bad case of sunburn he had got in the rigging several days before, had insisted on resuming his duties since the crew was so shorthanded.

"That's Isle St Paul, and over there is Cape Ray.  We have to sail between Cape Ray and Cape North to enter the Gulf of St Lawrence," Charlie explained. "To the right is the coast of Newfoundland and to the left Nova Scotia."

Emer gazed with foreboding at St Paul's island, a huge rock with three round peaks jutting straight up from the shore.  As they passed it by, she could see the wreckage of many ships.

Charlie revealed that they currents were so strong there, that dozens of vessels faced with contrary winds had been dashed to pieces upon it.

Emer shuddered as she viewed the cold and desolate spot, and then cheered slightly as she watched in wonder while the ship sailed on and the whole Gulf unfolded before her like a panoramic seascape painting.

Emer stood enthralled as Charlie pointed out the many features to her as they sailed along at about seven knots in the strong breeze.

"That's Bird Island, as you can guess from all the gannets and such like nestling on the rocks.  And over there are the Magdalene islands.  The largest of the islands in the archipelago are called Bryon, Deadman's, Amherst, Entry, and Wolf, and they're full of fishermen."

"What, people live all the way out here?" Emer asked in astonishment.

"Aye, that they do, and the Indians as well, of course.  The fishing is good, not to mention the walruses, which are excellent for their fat for tallow and such like, as well as for eating, or so I've been told."

Emer descried a huge tusked brown beast sitting majestically on a cluster of rocks as they passed the nearest small island, and stared in awe.

"I must go get the children to see all this!"

She hurried to the stern to fetch her nieces and nephews from Cathan's cabin.

Dalton, pausing in his progress in writing his report to his father about all he had seen while he had been aboard spying under his false name, was just going to check on the mumps victims.

As soon as he saw Emer, he snatched a quick kiss, his rare golden eyes blazing, and then offered to take the boys up on deck for her.

The two of them gathered the children, then stood side by side as they held the toddlers up on the rail so they would see their new homeland as the ship glided past.

Dalton looked down at Emer in her lovely blue gown, and wondered if it could ever be possible for a love like this to last. If he were to risk all by flouting convention and trying to continue their relationship off the ship, would he always be as happy with her as he was at that moment?

His heart was so bursting with love for her, he was almost tempted to tell her how deeply he felt.

But the words seems so huge, and unfair given the fact that they he was so uncertain they could ever have a future together. He would have like nothing better than to fly in the face of his arrogant social acquaintances. But the sad fact was he lacked the courage.

So Dalton remained silent, his heart full, not daring to say the words he had thought in his mind dozens of times since they had become lovers, but did not dare speak.

Emer's thoughts echoed Dalton's own as she stared out at the lovely landscape, and then turned her eyes up to the handsome raven-haired man by her side.

I love you, Dalton, she stated in her mind.  Though she knew it was impossible, that their destinies lay in different directions, she loved him beyond all thought, reason, or common sense.

She snuggled herself more tightly to his massive body, a perfect fit, she had always thought, despite his being well over six feet. She was just about to say the words aloud, and to hell with the consequences.

Just then, earnest, dark-eyed Joe the stowaway came up to Emer, and broke up her romantic reverie as he whispered hurriedly, "We've got problems in the crew's quarters."

Emer stepped away from her beloved at once, both glad and disappointed that she had not uttered the fateful words after all. Once again, duty called, and was forcing her and her lover to separate.

"Dalton, could you please see that the children get safely below?"

Dalton immediately opened his arms to take the girls from her.  Emer leaned against Dalton for a brief moment as she handed them over, in order to feel his warmth and strength against her one last time.

"Don't worry, Emer.  I'll look after them," he promised, returning the pressure reassuringly.  "Let me know if there's anything you need, and I shall see you later."

Dalton watched her hurry away alongside of Joe with a mixture of longing and jealousy, and then turned to take the toddlers below.

"What is it?" Emer asked as she picked up her skirts and prepared to descend into the crew's cabin at the bow of the ship.

"Martin has had a relapse, and I think he might also have contracted the black fever.  He's twitching and raving, and the other crewmen are nearly as bad," Joe divulged.

"Did they all wash as they were instructed?" Emer demanded as she rolled up the sleeves of her gown and tied on the apron Joe had fetched her.

"I don't think so.  I think these ones were on watch at the time, now that you mention it."

"Damn, look at their clothes.  They are filthy.  Get me some boiling water, and some clean clothes from the slop chest."

Emer bent to cool her brother's fevered brow, and her heart sank.  It was the black fever for sure, and she had little hope that any of the sufferers would recover.

Still, she was determined to try her best, and nursed them ceaselessly with the limited resources and facilities she had available.
 

Emer spent the next two days and nights battling incessantly to save her brother, but no matter what she tried, he seemed to just grow weaker.

Finally, on Tuesday morning, Martin breathed his last.

Emer crossed herself, then pulled the sheet over his face numbly.  Three other crewmen had already died, and of those still remaining, Emer was less than optimistic.

She had no idea where it would end. She had hoped their ordeal would be over once they arrived in Canada, but now she could see how misplaced her optimism, and how fraught the voyage was even in the relative calm of the great Gulf of St. Lawrence.

But what other choice did she have than to hope, and try to save as many as she could?

"I'm sorry, dear," Joe said, coming up behind her to hug her around the shoulders.

"I know. We tried. Tried and failed again." She sighed heavily, and looked around her, heartily sick of the sight of the four wooden walls.

"Get everyone to wash again.  Scrub this place and boil all the clothes in this cabin now," Emer ordered Joe wearily, as she picked up her filthy skirts and headed for the stern.

"I'll do it, Emer, but at this point it might just be a waste of time." He accompanied her as far as the galley.

"I don't care.  We have to do something, anything rather than just sit here and watch them die!"

Once on deck, Emer noticed that the favourable winds had died down. As she peered over the rail at her first glimpse of Canada since Sunday afternoon, Charlie informed her that they were becalmed off Anticosti Island, a dangerous spot for ships because of the sunken reefs which lurked below the surface of the deceptively placid-looking water.

Emer stared out moodily at the pristine pine forests, and then gasped.  "Good Lord! What is that?" she exclaimed, pointing to a dark shape moving amongst the trees.

"It's a brown bear," Charlie replied, hoping his remark sounded casual, though in truth he had never seen one for himself. He was as astonished as Emer at the sheer size and beauty of the animal.  "The whole island is full of them."

"Goodness me," Emer said in wonder, and then moved below wearily to change her clothes and boil her gown and petticoats.

Dalton, at a loose end ever since Emer had been commandeered by her sick brother and crew, had spent his days dreaming of Emer, and imagining all the erotic things he would do to her when once again she was by his side.

He smiled as he saw her coming below, and kissed her soundly before releasing her so she could go change her dress.

Their encounter had been wordless, for somehow to voice all of his tumultuous feelings for Emer was too risky, and altogether too inadequate to explain the depth of his emotion for her.

Dalton acknowledged to himself with a mixture of fascination and regret that Emer's simplest gesture took his breath away.  She had only to look at him with her incredible aqua eyes for his heart to turn somersaults in his chest.

Her scent filled his mind, and now that Emer had resumed her duties as his cabin boy, Dalton had to force himself to leave the room when she was cleaning the cabin or watercloset, or changing the linens, for he had so little control over his desires that he could barely restrain himself from stripping the clothes off her and making love with her right then and there.

The fact that Dalton knew Emer wanted him just as much made his longing for her all the more acute. When she came in late the following morning to do her chores, he crept up behind her as she was making the bed, and put his arms around her and kissed her neck.

Emer, though surprised, turned around in Dalton's arms and kissed him back. His head reeling, Dalton pulled her down onto the bed with him.

His hands roved over her slender body, massaging her aching back and shoulders, spreading warmth through her limbs, setting her flesh to quivering even more than it was already at the mere sight or touch of him.

"I've missed you so much."

"I know. I've wanted to come-"

"Sush, pet," he soothed, as be began to unfasten her shirt. "I'm sorry about your brother. I know how much they all mean to you. I only wish there was more we could do."

She put one finger to his lips before he could say more. "Enough, darling. The real world is out there clamoring for our attention, and they can have us back soon enough. But for the moment  I don't want to think or worry. I just want to feel you in my arms, in my body. All I want is the here and now with you...."
 

The Hungry Heart
Book 2 of The Hunger of the Heart Series
Shannon Farrell
Setting: Canada and Ireland, 1847-48
Word Count: 84,000
Rating: Sensual
    
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