Cover Reveal ~ Promises to Keep by Maegan Beaumont

Title: PROMISES TO KEEP (Sabrina Vaughn Book #3)
Author: Maegan Beaumont
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Release Date: August 8th, 2015
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For three years, Michael O'Shea has been forced to act as a personal assassin for Livingston Shaw, the cold-blooded puppet master who controls the remote bioweapon implanted in Michael's back. When Shaw offers to release him if he can recover a kidnapped child, Michael works with every ounce of his being to put the pieces together before all the witnesses are murdered.

Meanwhile, police Inspector Sabrina Vaughn--the woman Michael passionately loves but has been kept from seeing--discovers the body of a little boy that bears a striking resemblance to the missing child. Against all his instincts, Michael must draw Sabrina into his life as one of the world's most notorious assassins if he's to overcome the legacy of his bloodthirsty past.

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One of Sabrina’s most valued attributes was her ability to compartmentalize. She could divide herself into sections—mother, cop, friend, partner—one section rarely bled into another. It was how she had survived eight-three days of rape and torture. How she'd been able to pull the trigger and blow her brother's face away when she'd been faced with what he'd done to her. It was her ability to operate in sections that allowed her to sit in Mathews’ office next to Michael without totally losing it.

            She'd been called into Mathews' office for what she assumed would be the re-boot of her weekly reminder of how much he hated her. Before her transfer, he used to call her in and sit her down; just so he could go over all the ways she wasn't fit to carry a badge. She was impulsive. Insubordinate. Non-compliant with department policy... oh, and despite evidence to the contrary, he was convinced that she'd had a fellow officer murdered a few years ago. He'd warn her that he was watching her, that one screw up was all he needed to give her the boot. She'd let him rant at her for a while and when he ran out of steam, she'd thank him for his time and leave. It was kinda their thing.

            Waiting for the wind-up, she picked her favorite water spot on the wall—the one shaped like Florida—to the left of his head and started staring. It never came. Instead he said, “A Fed is on his way up here to stick his nose in the kiddie murder you and Pigpen picked up today. Try not to embarrass the shit out of me, will ya?”

            A few knocks sounded behind her, but she didn't bother to turn around. You met one Fed, you met them all. Then she heard his voice and she couldn't turn around.

            Michael. Michael was here.

            Taking a deep breath, she turned and held out her hand, formed her mouth into a courteous smile. “It's nice to meet you, Agent Payne. I'm Inspector Vaughn.” She looked down at the hand she held out in front of her. As steady as you please. He took it and gave it a shake while saying something about how nice it was to meet her. Her eyes touched his for a moment—the quiet gray of them seemed a bit darker than she remembered but just as beautiful. His face was calm, passive even. It was a look she remembered well.

            The part of her that wanted to bolt from the room reared its ugly head for just a moment but she walled it off. Pulling her hand back, she dropped it in to her lap and looked at her Captain. “Shall I start?” Mathews grunted at her and she took it as an affirmative. She started talking, filling them both in on the case and they listened. Michael asked a few questions and she answered him, surprised at the tremor-free sound of her own voice.

            When finished, she sat back in her seat and let the two of them talk it out. She was too busy concentrating on keeping herself in her seat to participate in what they were saying. The creak of Mathews' desk chair drew her attention. He sat up in his chair and placed his hands, folded, on top of his desk. A sure sign that he was about to say something that would piss her off.

            Instinctively, she clamped down on her temper in an attempt to cut Mathews’ mouth off at the pass. Looking at O’Shea, he said, “I feel I should mention that I have deep reservations concerning Inspector Vaughn's ability to lead an investigation of this magnitude. Not only is she newly returned from a fifteen-month stint on SWAT, she's rash and unpredictable.” Mathew looked at her and she saw herself lunging across the desk to bitch-slap him silly. “Vaughn's been instructed to provide you with full cooperation and to assist you in all matters of this investigation,” he said, even though he’d informed her of no such thing. “But in the interest of transparency, I’ll admit that she’s not the Inspector I’d have chosen for this assignment. If at any time, you feel like you would prefer a different liaison, don’t hesitate to say so.” 

            Never one to disappoint, Mathews hit every nerve Sabrina had and it took everything she had to keep her mouth shut. Egotistical, over-blown, self-important son of a—

             “I’ve been fully briefed on what you view as Inspector Vaughn’s shortcomings, Captain Mathews. I’m also aware that, despite where she’s been for the past fifteen months, she’s the best investigator you’ve got.” O’Shea stood, looking down at Mathews with a mix of amusement and contempt, “As for her being expected to comply—if I wanted someone to follow me around and lick my shoes, I would’ve asked for a dog. Inspector Vaughn is expected to speak her mind, ask questions and follow the evidence. If that leads her in a different direction than the one I’m heading, I’ll welcome and appreciate any insight she can provide.” O’Shea delivered the last of his statement directly to her.

            Mathews turned, gave her a look that would've killed her if looks were capable. “Get out.”

            “Yes, sir,” she said quietly, unable to scrape away the smirk that’d plastered itself to her face. Easing herself from the chair, she stood and managed to get through the door without giving voice to the myriad of smartass comments that were doing the Super Bowl shuffle around her head.

            She started toward the bullpen but pulled up short. Strickland was sitting at his desk, going over witness statements to make sure they hadn't missed anything from the canvass. She was about halfway between her desk and Mathews' office when she pulled up short. Michael was less than twenty yards away. More than a year, he'd finally come back—but as usual, he hadn't come for her.

            On impulse, she grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and pulled it on.

Suddenly, this was last place she wanted to be.

Carved in Darkness (Book #1)

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Past horrors bleed into a present day nightmare

Fifteen years ago, a psychotic killer abducted seventeen year old Melissa Walker. For 83 days she was raped and tortured before being left for dead in a deserted church yard... But she was still alive.

Melissa begins a new life as homicide inspector, Sabrina Vaughn. With a new face and a new name, it's her job to hunt down murderers and it's a job she does very well.

When Michael O'Shea, a childhood acquaintance with a suspicious past, suddenly finds her, he brings to life the nightmare Sabrina has long since buried.

Believing that his sister was recently murdered by the same monster who attacked Sabrina, Michael is dead set on getting his revenge--using Sabrina as bait.

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Sacrificial Muse (Book #2)

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She is his muse, and the fates require sacrifice.

San Francisco Detective Sabrina Vaughn is able to shrug off the nine red roses being delivered to her office every day. But when only eight roses arrive on the same day a Berkeley student's mutilated body is found, Sabrina fears that the killer is taunting her. Forced into a partnership with a deceitful reporter who somehow remains one step ahead of her, Sabrina discovers that she's the object of a psychopath's twisted delusion . . . and there may be no escape.

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Maegan Beaumont is the author of CARVED IN DARKNESS, the first book in the Sabrina Vaughn thriller series (Available through Midnight Ink, spring 2013). A native Phoenician, Maegan’s stories are meant to make you wonder what the guy standing in front of you in the Starbucks line has locked in his basement, and feel a strong desire to sleep with the light on.

When she isn’t busy fulfilling her duties as Domestic Goddess for her high school sweetheart turned husband, Joe, and their four children, she is locked in her office with her computer, her coffee pot and her Rhodesian Ridgeback, and one true love, Jade. 

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