Marriage Vows Under Fire Summer Love Series 2: Tender Rivalry. Lanette Zavala

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СКАЧАТЬ for her problems. An adulterous past and scandalous tendencies threaten to shatter the love between Shasta and Javier Reyes. Unknown to their family, a violent face-off occurs when Natalie's psychotic cousin torments the men who attempted to kidnap her. Cousin Tiphany Taylor hopes to marry the wealthy father of her children until reality forces her to make a heart-wrenching decision. Alicia Reyes goes on a manhunt for her meddling widowed mother and finds a homeless man to groom for the mission.

      The shattering worlds of the prominent Reyes and Taylor families blend as a distractive force against the couple, who married from each family. Surrounded by everyone else’s drama, Natalie and Joseph rarely find time to strengthen what she sees as a starving marriage.

      Marriage Vows Under Fire Mega Series 1 is an extensive version of Wedding Vows Under Fire Launch Series.

      To order

      A Single Woman’s Journey Through Marriage Preparation, Marriage Vows Under Fire Mega Series 1: Gold Bands In The Fire, and other books by Lanette Zavala, visit your favorite online bookstore.

      Prologue

      1980

      A proud sense of gratification overshadowed Natalie Taylor as she observed all her friends’ fascination with the Reyes-Taylor Ranch. On over one-hundred acres of land in the countryside of MacEllah, each family’s large vacation home held an abundance of cozy bedrooms and breathtaking family accommodations. Between each home, which was built back-to-back, there was a poolside spacious enough to accommodate at least forty people and a separate picnic area surrounding an over-size barbeque pit with four ten-foot wooden picnic tables.

      From the balcony of the Taylors’ house, just outside the second-floor den, the high school seniors overlooked the well-lit shared backyard in amazement. For them, the ending of prom night, with their one-hour drive to the getaway spot, meant the beginning of a special weekend.

      Vivian Brown pulled Natalie back into the den and told her in a low, discreet tone, “Natalie, Chad wants me to spend the night with him tonight. Can’t we take one of the bedrooms away from everybody else?”

      Natalie laughed without hesitation. She looked out the window and gazed at the group as she explained, “Girl, I told you. My parents will not go for that. That’s why my mama is here and will probably be awake all night on alert.”

      “And what about Joe’s house?” Vivian asked her referring to the Reyes home just yards away, where all the boys were expected to sleep for the night.

      “Forget it,” Natalie told her. “Mrs. Reyes won’t even let any girls over there tonight – just to make sure there’ll be no funny business in her house.”

      “Oh,” Vivian responded, almost too embarrassed to continue looking her friend in the eye.

      “Is he trying to pressure you?” Natalie demanded gently. “You always did seem to know what you wanted Vivian. And you said you’d never let anybody pressure you.”

      “Well, no, he’s not pressuring me,” Vivian replied weakly.

      “Good. Then, tell him to hold his horses until the wedding night.”

      “Don’t be silly, Girl,” Vivian answered her friend with a chuckle. “Chad and I haven’t talked about marriage.”

      “Well, then, he’s got a lot of nerve.”

      “You’re so self-righteous, Nat.” Vivian turned on her heel and headed back to the balcony.

      Natalie had heard the statement before. And on several occasions she had allowed such a statement to occupy her mind, having been told too often that she was older than her years. But lately, she second-guessed all of what had been told to her concerning her conservative judgment.

      Her eyes fell on her prom date, Joseph Reyes Junior. He was her handsome childhood friend. Since meeting during a time when she could barely remember, he had been her playmate. She had never before thought to consider herself as his date to anything, especially not to prom. But after a hurtful break-up from a six-month courtship, which she had never before revealed to her cousin, Tiphany, nor to her friends, she found familiar delight and humor in the friendly company of Joseph. If there was any self-righteousness in her, as her friend often accused her, it disappeared in his presence.

      Regardless of his family’s wealth and prestige, Joseph was a juvenile delinquent. Unlike his twin brother, Juan, who prided himself on fine academic performances and outstanding high school baseball, Joseph had kept so much company with unlawful teens that their behavior had rubbed off on him. His parents often found comfort in the confidence of the Taylors, sharing their grief in their son’s arrests over wild parties, alleged car thefts connected with criminal friends, and graffiti-related vandalism.

      Despite their different choices in life, Natalie felt connected to him. But, for the connection, she felt ashamed. The label of “self-righteous” and the uncertainty of trusting a delinquent conflicted within her heart.

      A year had passed since Joseph’s return from eight-months in a detention. Since returning from that last stay in juvenile, he had changed in an amazing but peculiar way, as family and friends had noticed. There were times when he had more to talk to Natalie about than she could bear to hear. He showed all the signs of what her cousins, EmmaJean and Belinda MacNeal, labeled as jailhouse religion. But her parents were vocally optimistic about his change. As far as Natalie could see, they never seemed to harbor one skeptical thought between the two of them about Joseph.

      All Joseph ever seemed to want to talk about lately was the Bible, Natalie often complained inwardly. Although she appreciated her friend’s newfound preoccupation with the Bible, being a Sunday School junior superintendent herself at church, she longed for more exciting conversations during their phone calls. She wanted the youthful, stimulating talk that she missed from her former boyfriend. Just a week before the prom, she had drifted to sleep as Joseph read a full chapter of First Chronicles to her over the telephone.

      There was also a reserved side of Joseph. That very prom night, he seemed almost too shy to mingle among the group of guys, who were to camp at his parents’ vacation home all weekend. To Natalie, the mystery that others saw in his eyes revealed to her a transparency of sadness and regret. She was delighted that he had finally shed his bad-boy exterior and had demonstrated a willingness to show common vulnerability. Only days ago in another one of their lengthy phone conversations, he had shared with Natalie his lifelong struggle comparing himself to his well-liked twin brother, Juan.

      As she often had to do, Natalie tried shaking her thoughts of Joseph. With every detail that he gave about himself, whom she thought she already knew, she pondered. He had developed into the enigmatic character standing on the balcony from the shy little boy who also had a hidden mischievous side that could easily stir up uncontrollable laughter within herself and in her siblings.

      Her eyes glued on him through the window. Under the bright balcony light, his smile could draw her attention from miles away. His sudden attention on her alerted her to how silly she was certain she must have appeared staring at him. Realizing that her eyes wore a lost gaze and that her head was tilted to the side, she finally pulled herself together.

      “Snap out of it!” Natalie scolded herself.

      At the sight of Joseph approaching her, her heart pounded against her chest, to her surprise. His dress shirt hung outside his tuxedo slacks casually and attractively.

      “What СКАЧАТЬ