Eight years ago, Toby Keller had been a clumsy, shy adolescent when he left his hometown of Brownville, Nebraska, to go live with his grandfather, the famous Marshal Hampton Gibson. Now confident, mature, and handsome, 25-year-old Deputy Tobias Keller has come home to visit his family. Once there, he finds out about a young woman under the employ of a mutual acquaintance, in a city 600 miles away, who is in dire need of a hero. Although they’ve never met, he takes it upon himself to volunteer to give her the protection of his name. 

When Pauline Christiansen, a beautiful 20-year-old, living in Louisville, Kentucky, overhears her suitor discussing with another man a crime they were committing, she finds herself in need of protection when he threatens to extort her into an unwanted marriage. Her family and friends propose an outrageous plan - she’ll wed, by proxy, a man she has never laid eyes on, from a small town she’s never heard of, somewhere in Nebraska. Would this even be legal? Assured that annulment papers would be drawn up to safeguard the temporary marriage, she reasons that not much could go wrong. 

But once Pauline travels to the faraway hamlet of Brownville and gets off the train - sparks fly! The attraction between the two is as immediate as a bolt of lightning. However, as time passes, each one invariably believes the other is simply biding their time until Pauline’s family gives her the all-clear to come back home. 

Will they be able to overcome problems, dangers, outlaws, and over-protective brothers to stay together? Or will they let a marriage made in heaven slip through their fingers due to stubbornness and pride? 

This is a clean, inspirational romance. The story contains themes of real life but is suitable for all ages, as it contains no illicit sex or profanity.