Reluctant Bride by Linda Ford

Agnes Bland is alone and anxious to keep it that way. She’s learned the hard way just how crushing it can be to trust in someone else. She has a second chance at family when she is made guardian to three little girls. But when the boarding house refuses to rent to them, Agnes and the girls have nowhere else to go. Nels Hanson has an empty house. Built for his intended–who jilted him and married another–the house sits empty. Until Agnes and the girls fill up the structure–and his life–with their giggles and tears.

Nels never expected to feel like this again. Alive. Maybe even in love. When tongues start wagging about Agnes living in his house, he decides a marriage of convenience isn’t the worst thing in the world. Until Agnes rejects his proposal. Agnes would do anything to keep the girls. Anything but marry Nels. Marriage would make her too vulnerable. She can’t trust Nels with her heart… can she?