Fated Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

still spread out in the middle of the living room on her mattress, and she had a feeling that she would be sleeping in it again that night. She turned once in a small circle, surveying the strange apartment.
    What am I doing here? How in hell did I end up like this?
    In retrospect, the chain of events that had changed her life had been set in motion a little over four months before, but the particulars of the proceedings seemed to have kaleidoscoped into one endless nightmare that defied logic or reason. When she tried to make sense of them, Quinn found that she could not. She didn't believe in luck or karma or fate. Sometimes bad things just
happened.
But that philosophy gave her very little comfort at the moment.
    Wearily, she sat down on her sleeping bag, leaned her back against a pile of boxes, and closed her eyes. She knew she should eat, but strangely, she was not hungry. She knew she should sleep, but felt too restless inside for that. Her phone rested on the floor nearby. Briefly, she considered calling the woman she had dated on and off during the year of her fellowship in New York, but she found that the idea of talking with Beth left her feeling empty. They had gone to the occasional party, taken in a few Broadway shows, and shared a physical relationship that had been satisfying if not earth shattering. They weren't lovers; in fact, they were little more than casual acquaintances.
    Quinn hadn't confided in Beth as her world had precipitously tilted and then simply crumbled, mostly because she wasn't used to discussing her problems with anyone. And especially not with someone she didn't completely trust to understand.
Odd that we 've slept together, and I don't know her well enough to confide in her.
    She hadn't had much time to think about such things when she'd been working eighteen hours a day as a trauma fellow. Now that she found herself in a professional position to which she had never aspired, alone in a life she had never anticipated, she had far too much time to think. Groaning softly, she rubbed her face, stared at the ceiling, and tried to put the past aside. But the future was almost as difficult to contemplate, particularly considering her uncertain welcome in the ER that morning.
    Fleetingly, she wondered if Honor Blake and Linda O'Malley were lovers. They had that easy energy between them, and she'd caught Linda eyeing her speculatively a few times during the day. The nurse hadn't exactly been cruising her, but Quinn had felt the interest. Perhaps
she
was the person who had given Honor that wedding ring.
    And just that quickly, Quinn found herself faced with yet another thought she did not want to contemplate. Surrendering to exhaustion as much emotional as physical, she stretched out on the sleeping bag and wearily closed her eyes again.

    * * * * *
    "Honor," a soft, deep voice murmured.
    Instantly awake, Honor jolted upright on the couch and stared into the pale blue eyes mere inches from hers. "Oh my God, did I fall asleep?"
    Robin Henderson, a solidly built redhead with a killer smile, grinned faintly. "About halfway through
Wheel of Fortune."
    "Where's Arly?" Honor rubbed her face, trying to clear the mists of vague dreams from her consciousness. She couldn't clearly recall what she had been dreaming, but she was left with a feeling of uneasiness and...peril?
No, that can't be right. What in my life could possibly be dangerous?
For no reason that she could imagine, Quinn Maguire's face flashed through her mind.
That's ridiculous. You
must
be tired.
    "She's in the den. There's some kind of serious Lord of the Rings video game battle going on. Want some dinner?"
    "Yes,
please," Honor replied gratefully, standing and stretching. "Did the kids eat?"
    "All done. We fed them first and then banished them so that we could have some adult time." Robin led the way into the dining room, where Linda was pouring an enormous pot of spaghetti sauce over enough pasta to feed a regiment.
    "Yum, Looks great."