Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble

Lucy Marsh is on her own trying to raise her young brother and sister. When circumstances become dangerous for this young family Lucy finds the only thing she can do is accept a proxy marriage to Nate Stanton.

Henry Stanton is Nate's father. He has come in search of a young Christian woman to marry his son. His offer helps get Lucy, Jed and Eileen out of a dangerous situation. She believes this is an answer to her prayers to protect her family.

Nate has problems of his own. The Stanton's and the Larson's have been enemies for years. Every since Henry bought out Larson land. Drew Larson is bitter about losing his family land and will never forgive the Stanton's.

Nate is not happy when his father brings Lucy home as Nate's wife. He cannot fathom how any woman would ever agree to marry a man by proxy. The marriage is legal and binding and Lucy has no intention of shirking her wifely responsibilities. She sets out to prove to Nate that she can do whatever it takes to help him run a cattle farm. 

Lucy has been relying on her own abilities for too long. Her independence immediately causes some friction between her and Nate. Lucy must learn to trust the Lord and relinquish her controlling nature to Him, which is hard for her to do since she has had to be in control of her sister and brother's care for so long.

I really liked the development of the love and attraction between Nate and Lucy. There was also a bit of mystery and suspense that in my mind played secondary to the relationship between Nate and Lucy, but added a bit of spark to the story and kept the pace moving along nicely. I really liked Nate and Lucy's characters. They both were willing to seek the Lord in their relationship. Nate was willing to be the man of the family and become a father figure to Jed and Eileen. Lucy learned to let go of her control issues and allow Nate to be the head of their family.