The marriage proposal is often a highlight of a historical romance. Tender, inept, funny, disastrous — it shows the character of both protagonists and is an important point along the plot arc: often the penultimate moment, but also frequently much earlier in the plot. Show me the passage with your proposal, if you have one. If not, share another important declaration of intent, feelings, or both.
Mine is from Unkept Promises, and happens in Chapter Two.
“Jules,” Father said gravely, leaving the point, “her father appears to have been her only family. She has been left near destitute and with her reputation in ruins. But she refuses the remedy that would save her.”
“I heard,” Jules said. “Marriage to me. Because of Kirana.” He met his father’s gaze, his own solemn. “Kirana and I have two children, Father, if all went well with her lying in. I cannot desert them. My life is in Madras. I am posted to the Far East fleet, and should have been on my way back days ago. In addition, Mia is a child—just fourteen. Her peculiar upbringing has made her mature in many ways. She is not ready for marriage.”
“Mia is…” Susan began, but Father waved her to silence, leaving Jules to finish his own arguments for and against.
He was thinking about what his life might look like with Mia as his wife. He could think of worse fates. She would, as Aldridge had implied, be a magnificent woman when she grew up. “Can I leave her with you? If I marry her… Would you take her in as a daughter and look after her until I come home?” Which could be years from now, and anything could happen. He was going back into the war. He might die. Any of them might.
Yes. He would marry Mia and let the future look after itself.
It happened quickly after that. Mia argued when he proposed, but he assured her he was not being coerced. She looked gravely at him as he explained the arrangements he had made to leave her in England, and agreed. “That would be best, I expect. Kirana would not like if you arrived home with a wife.”
Would Kirana be upset? He worried about that for a moment, then put the thought aside. He was doing the best he could for everyone, and they would just have to accept it.
Thank you for this opportunity, Jude. In Mariah’s Marriage, Tobias’s proposal goes somewhat awry:
“Miss Fox…” Tobias began again, but discovered that not every young lady in the land was impressed into silence by his title, his situation as a bachelor, and his access to immense wealth, because Miss Fox cast him a glance so full of loathing he felt its heat sear through to his brain. “I am full of contrition, Miss Fox, and beg your pardon for exposing you to so much unexpected behaviour,” he said at last. The expression of anger in those wonderful eyes did not lessen by any measurable quantity. “You must wonder at Lady Mellon’s distress but it is brought about by too strict an adherence to her beliefs in the attentions needed by an adult son. She wishes to go to Spain and live for a while with her relatives…” “And to speak Spanish all the time,” Daisy added from her chair. “To this end, she sees it as necessary that I should be married before she departs on her odyssey,” Tobias concluded, and watched Mariah Fox carefully to assess whether she would grasp his problem and understand why he had moved with such indecent haste. “I have never been subjected to such an insult, sir. We met last week for fewer than ten minutes and two days ago for an hour. How dare you make sport of me in this manner?” Mariah asked, and despite the strength of his purpose, he felt his heart constrict. He had acted like a soldier, seizing the chance that fate threw to him without any regard to the feelings of those involved. “I do not make sport, Miss Fox. I wish to be married in order to release my mama from her obligations, and I consider being married to you as an excellent solution for us all,” he said. “I realise, albeit a little late in the proceedings, that I have moved too quickly for everyone concerned. My mama was not supposed to reveal any of this, but to act with all courtesy and attention to you. It was never my intention to have any of this blurted out, particularly in front of John Brent.”
Mariah’s Marriage Anne Stenhouse https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CMAEKPM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2
He’s in trouble!