N. N. Light's Book Heaven presents Susan Vaughan #authorspotlight #romanticsuspense #romance #wrpbks
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  • N. N. Light
    • Apr 5
    • 10 min read

N. N. Light's Book Heaven presents Susan Vaughan #authorspotlight #romanticsuspense #romance #wrpbks



I had great fun writing The DARK Files series because I could connect the characters loosely because they work for DARK (Domestic Antiterrorism Risk Corps). But I made sure each book can stand alone, as do all my novels. I  love writing romantic suspense because I can throw my hero and heroine together under extraordinary circumstances and pit them against a clever villain. I love to travel, so I’ve been able to incorporate the places and culture—and food—of those trips in some of my stories. Dark Mission is set in the area where I live, and Dark Cover and Dark Vision in the Washington, D.C. area where I once lived and worked. Two other books move to more exotic locales—the Caribbean and Italy. Some of the books in my other series are also located abroad, and some are in Maine, which provides great fodder, inspiration, and scenery for fiction.

My books have won the Golden Leaf, More Than Magic, and Write Touch Readers’ Award and been a finalist for the Booksellers’ Best and Daphne du Maurier awards.

 

People ask how I started writing and when. That’s an easy question to answer. I started writing as soon as I learned how to write words. Those first stories had a lot of stick figures and few words, though. I always wanted to write stories. I wrote a three-chapter Gothic novel when I was in high school. Fortunately, that has never seen the light of day. But I didn’t start writing for publication until much later, after college and graduate school and marriage. My first serious writing began when I was teaching. I’m a literacy specialist, but I also taught junior high English. My first efforts were for that audience, and my stories combined a mystery with a touch of romance, even then. I’m a West Virginia native, but my husband and I have lived in the Mid-Coast area of Maine for many years. I enjoy travel (yes, repeating myself), boating (we used to have a sailboat), and gardening.

 

Follow on Amazon: http://amzn.to/13RNhQv

 

 

Title – Dark Mission (Book 1, The DARK Files)

Author - Susan Vaughan

Genre – Romantic Suspense

Publisher – The Wild Rose Press

 

Book Blurb –

 

Can they hold onto the heartbreak of the past when he’s protecting her from a killer 24/7?

After museum curator Laura Rossiter witnesses a murder, she runs for her life, finally landing in a Maine resort where she feels safe. Until bad-boy Cole Stratton rides his Harley back into her life…

 

Now a DARK officer, Cole has a mission—protect Laura, the golden girl he’s never forgotten, and flush out a killer. As the danger increases, so does the tension between the ex-lovers. Cole still believes she’s out of his league… and that she’s hiding secrets she intends never to reveal.

 

Together 24/7, they can’t deny the passion reigniting between them. But as the painful memories of their past assail them and a killer closes in, they must find a way to trust each other—before their future is extinguished forever.

 

Excerpt –

 

The bike roared up beside her. When it threatened to bump her, she pulled into the parking lot.

 

As her dad said, the best defense was an offense. She rolled down the window. “Cowboy, you’re in my way.”

 

“If you’re out for a Sunday drive, it’s only Wednesday.” He looked too good in the worn jeans, snug on his muscular thighs, and a black T-shirt. “We never finished our talk. Imagine my shock when you pulled out in that excuse for a car.”

 

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

 

“Me, neither. The ground behind your cabin is harder than this pavement.” He rolled his shoulders.

She recoiled. “You slept behind my cabin?”

 

He sighed. “Keeping watch. That’s what I’m here for, 24/7.”

 

She felt unbalanced, as though her protective layers were peeling away. “I gave you my answer yesterday. What part of no don’t you understand?”

 

“Oldie lyrics don’t cut it. Neither does no. Markos may have already found you. If you won’t go to a safe house, come back and we’ll talk. DARK wants Markos. You want to be safe from him. We can work out…something.”

 

Safe, yes, dear God, she wanted to be safe, but with Cole? How could that be safer? His nearness was devastating to her pulse. His low voice sent heat eddying through her veins.

 

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Author Biography –

 

Susan Vaughan loves throwing her hero and heroine together under extraordinary circumstances and pitting them against a clever villain. Her books have won the Golden Leaf, More Than Magic, and Write Touch Readers’ Award and been a finalist for the Booksellers’ Best and Daphne du Maurier awards. A former teacher, she’s a West Virginia native, but she and her husband have lived in the Mid-Coast area of Maine for many years. DARK RULES is her most recent release. Find her at www.susanvaughan.com .

 

Social Media Links –

 

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/susan.vaughan.author or on Twitter @SHVaughan.

 

Title – Dark Cover (Book 2, The DARK Files)

Author – Susan Vaughan

Genre – Romantic Suspense

Publisher – The Wild Rose Press

 

Book Blurb –

 

Nick Markos has inherited the burden and shame of his brother’s dealings with terrorists, who demand he return the millions he skimmed. Hoping to uncover a plotted attack, the Feds install DARK Officer Vanessa Wade undercover as Nick’s glamorous fiancée.

 

Despite her expertise, Vanessa has grown to dislike undercover work. Under orders to make sure the sexy and tortured tycoon is no traitor, she soon realizes that instead he’s determined to regain his family honor—and his own. She tells herself to stay detached, but this man’s kisses make her emotions spin out of control. As they work together amid gala social events and terror threats, Nick and Vanessa cannot deny their mutual attraction, but her deception makes Vanessa feel as false as the rock on her finger.

 

Is their relationship only a charade? One that could explode—along with a terrorist bomb?

 

Excerpt –

 

Nick winked at her. If she’d thought him sexy and rugged in a casual sweater or commanding in a business suit, in a tuxedo this man was devastating.

 

How could mush that used to be legs carry her the rest of the way downstairs?

 

The jet-black formal suit had surely been custom tailored. Nothing off the rack could fit those broad shoulders so perfectly, so… so. Against his olive complexion, the white shirt was blinding. An onyx stud pinned the formal crossed collar. Smaller studs ran down the shirt front and gleamed at the cuffs.

 

He gleamed.

 

His white smile and his blue, blue eyes held her in thrall—until she blinked. Somehow she’d arrived at the foot of the stairs.

 

“No tie,” she said inanely, focusing on anything but how gorgeous he was. And how tongue-tied she was. “I’ve never seen a tux without a tie.”

 

“I don’t wear ties. Don’t own one.” He took her hand and guided her to pirouette.

 

She felt the approval of his gaze deep inside her. She swallowed. “You don’t?”

 

“I didn’t want to forget the blue-collar start of what became N.D.M. International. I didn’t want to put myself above my employees. And now it’s become a point of pride.”

 

Nearly dizzy from his nearness and her slow turn, she stopped before him. “Commendable attitude. But even in sweats, no one would mistake you for the intern or the shipping clerk.”

 

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Title – Dark Rules (Book 3, The DARK Files)

Author – Susan Vaughan

Genre – Romantic Suspense

Publisher – The Wild Rose Press

 

Book Blurb –

 

Danger, secrets and lies…

 

Maverick government officer Simon Byrne, undercover on a Caribbean island, must stop an international arms dealer’s sale of uranium that could trigger world conflict. Simon’s mission goes sideways when the woman he once failed to protect is assigned as his tech officer. He vows to keep her safe, but she’s in his head…and in his heart.

 

By-the-book tech expert Janna Harris is determined to prove herself in the field and uncover whether her late husband, who sold to the arms dealer, also betrayed his government. A treason investigation could expose Janna’s own secrets. Her attraction to Simon wars with her pledge not to let another man into her life. But can she walk away from the only man who could heal her battered soul?

 

Emotions and danger collide as the powder-keg deadline ticks down on their mission—and their survival.

 

Excerpt –

 

Janna let her gaze lift to Simon as she listened to his explanation.

 

His diamond earring winked at her, teased her like he used to. Never under control, his brown hair had been styled with something like a garden trimmer. His perpetual two-day beard looked soft and touchable.

 

Ever the rebel, he wore snug, faded jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with the words Spies Do It Undercover. Not that every man in DARK wore a tie, but at headquarters, most wore dress shirts and pants. Higher-ups tolerated Simon’s in-your-face attitude because of his sharp intellect and street savvy.

 

She and Simon were such opposites. How had they ever managed to be friends?

 

Once upon a time. No more.

 

When she received her first field assignment, anticipation had tingled through her. But why did her partner have to be Simon? Why not someone dull? Married? Safe?

 

I’ll need you to translate for the two goons. I’ll want you to record it,” he said. A beat passed. “Standard procedure.”

 

Why did he say that almost apologetically? Her heart did an anxious flip. How could she work so closely with this man? The analytical part of her said her stung feelings weren’t rational. The emotional part of her regretted the loss of their friendship.

 

There was a part of her that she could never reveal to him. Or to anyone. She would keep her private pain just that—private.

 

Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub) –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title – Dark Vision (Book 4, The DARK Files)

Author – Susan Vaughan

Genre – Romantic Suspense

Publisher – The Wild Rose Press

 

Book Blurb –

 

Undercover…on the run…he’ll risk everything for her.

 

Shrapnel damage to one eye has sidelined DARK Officer Matt Leoni, so he jumps at an undercover gig in a small Mediterranean country’s embassy to work with Nadia Parker, a documentary filmmaker who believes he betrayed her on the past mission that took down her father.

 

When rebels set off an explosion, embassy security believe they are the bombers. Matt pulls Nadia to safety and they flee into the D.C. streets. Unable to rely on DARK, Matt is determined to protect Nadia, clear her name, and find answers.

 

As the two of them work together, trust grows and leads to passion, but both harbor secrets that could tear them apart. A bold plan to foil the traitor’s assassination plot could place Nadia in the crosshairs, and time is running out.

 

Excerpt –

 

Having him pop up like a discarded video file renewed all Nadia’s anger from five years ago. Seeing him lounging in the limo had pulled her back in time. Into the old resentment. And the old attraction.

 

An attraction she could control, even with him in the embassy. She’d be too busy with the filming to run into him.

 

Rebels. Undercover work. Anxiety sifted inside her.

 

Other than the sweat stains marring Matt’s dress shirt and a few finger-track lines in his short black hair, he looked as if today’s bullet-riddled chase was par for the course. And maybe it was. For him. Blue jeans, no tie, of course. Signature Leoni. His solid, muscular build had made her feel protected.

 

Thin red scars slashed his left eyebrow and the cheekbone below the eye patch. Shrapnel from a bomb? Or a terrorist’s knife? She shuddered. Whatever happened in that incident might explain the edge she sensed in him. A guarded tension. He was a more dangerous man than she’d realized.

 

She’d fallen for him, for his dark eyes, square-jawed solidity and deep voice, then for his wry humor and sexy, sleepy demeanor that hid a sharp brain.

 

But then he’d used her to trap her father. She could never forgive him that betrayal.

 

Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub) –

 


 

 

 

 

 

Title – Dark Justice (Book 5, The DARK Files)

Author – Susan Vaughan

Genre – Romantic Suspense

Publisher – The Wild Rose Press

 

Book Blurb –

 

DARK Officer Jack Thorne joined the antiterrorism task force for one reason only—to exact revenge on the smuggler responsible for the tragedy that haunts him.

 

Vacationing in Italy, Sophie Rinaldi overhears her host plotting to sell weapons-grade uranium to terrorists. She flees, but the man’s car strikes her. She ends up in the hospital, the last crucial weeks erased from her mind—and still a target for murder. Whether Sophie is an accomplice or merely a witness, to find out what she knows, Jack must keep her safe.

 

As Sophie and Jack race to stay ahead of hired killers, they find it impossible to deny their growing attraction. Jack is torn between his longing for Sophie and his pledge of vengeance. And how can Sophie fall for this tormented man who doesn’t trust her?

 

If she regains her memory, what she knows could destroy them both…

 

Excerpt –

 

      Jack’s adrenaline surged and his temples throbbed. Photographs had put a face to Vadim, but now he was finally going to see his enemy in the flesh.

 

      A Mercedes sedan rolled up to the portico, and the driver climbed out, a swarthy man. The Italian bodyguard. He made a small bow as he opened the rear door.

 

      The diamond dealer eased smoothly from the backseat. He gleamed like his wares, in a tailored suit the same silver-gray as his luxury automobile. At a distance he looked younger than his fifty years.

 

      Fifty is all you’ll have. Jack’s eyes narrowed as he memorized the man’s features.

 

      Even teeth showing in a crocodile smile, bright and bogus, Vadim extended a hand for the woman.

 

      Jack had seen only snapshots taken with telephoto lenses. Sophie Rinaldi, aged twenty-seven, from Pelham, New York. An American tourist who after two weeks of touring Italy moved in with Vadim. She—

 

      What he saw next short-circuited his thought processes. A slim foot in a red sandal extending from the Mercedes. Then a long, shapely, tanned leg. And the other.

 

      The Rinaldi woman accepted Vadim’s hand as she slid from the leather interior. After smoothing her skirt—a gauzy red thing that floated to her knees—she tossed back her hair and smiled.

 

      That soft curve of lips sent a shock wave of heat into Jack’s veins. Never had the mere sight of a woman affected him with such power. Why now? Why her?

 

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