“I don’t care about that.” He paused at the steps of the beach, turned her to him. “Do you?”

She studied his face, let his voice play in her head. “You really don’t?”

“I care about you, our family, the dogs, the ranch. I care about a lot of things. That one doesn’t even make the bottom of the list.”

“Then I don’t care either. I really don’t care. How about you marry me?”

“How about I do?”

She took his hand again, and together they walked down the steps, over the sand toward the sea.