Dirk Pitt proposes to Loren Smith.

Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino and Loren Smith are chatting when the subject of marriage comes up in Inca Gold (Chapter 32).

Later, Loren asks Al if Dirk told him that he proposed to her in Inca Gold (Chapter 60).

Then Loren turns down Dirk's proposal in Inca Gold (Chapter 62).

Perhaps I went cross-eyed while reading between chapters 32 and 60 and missed the proposal, or perhaps it is a given...

It was like a 2 line thing....partway through the book. After they have the discussion w/ Al...later he & her are alone and chitchatting..etc.

I dunno. I understood the convos...I dunno. I"ll re-read it later

At the end of chapter 32 the last three lines are;
"She gave him a peculiar look."Are you proposing to me?"
"A quiet look deepened his green eyes."Let's just say I was making a suggestion about things to come."

Not really a proposal but then again..................

I thought that at first too. But Giordino says Pitt didn't tell him about the proposal in Chapter 60 ...

At least Dirk Pitt's proposal to Loren Smith is VERY clear in Trojan Odyssey (sheesh - how many ways did he aks her?).

This post has been edited by Helene Noelle on Jun 24 2004, 02:23 PM

While this is a sunbject that was discussed long ago, i did notice one thing after re-reading Atlantis Found. I don't have the book with me, but the last few pages make a refrence to Inca Gold, and how she turned him down.
I grab the book when i get home from work.

Your are right chaos625. Here is the reference:

It took a few moments for Pitt to absorb her words. "As I recall, I proposed marriage in the Sonoran Desert after the Inca Gold affair and you turned me down." Atlantis Found (Final Blessing)

I think I saw something about that in the Vortex Files....
hmm....

I don't have a book at the moment, but as I recall, it was a proposal in Inca Gold book

Excerpt from Inca Gold ;

Pitt put his arm around Loren. "If something should go wrong, if this thing blows up in our faces while we're in foreign territory and you're along for the ride, the scandal could ruin your political career."
She looked across the table at him brazenly. "So the voters throw me out on the streets. Then I'd have no choice but to marry you."
"A fate worse than listening to a presidential speech," said Giordino, "but a good idea just the same."
"Somehow I can't picture us walking down the aisle of the Washington Cathedral," Pitt said thoughtfully, "and then setting up housekeeping in some brick townhouse in Georgetown."
Loren had hoped for a different reaction, but she knew that Pitt was no ordinary man. She recalled their first meeting at a lawn party nearly ten years before given by some forgotten former secretary of environment. There was a magnetism that had drawn her to him. He was not handsome in the movie star sense, but there was a masculine, no-nonsense air about him that awakened a desire she hadn't experienced with other men. He was tall and lean. That helped. As a congresswoman she had known many wealthy and powerful men, several of them devilishly good-looking. But here was a man who wore the reputation of an adventurer comfortably and cared nothing for power or fame. And rightly so. He was the genuine article.
There were no strings attached to their off-and-on ten-year affair. He had known other women, she had known other men, and yet their bond still held firm. Any thought of marriage had seemed remote. Each was already married to his or her job. But the years had mellowed their relationship, and as a woman Loren knew her biological clock did not have too many ticks left if she wished to have children.
"It doesn't have to be like that," she said finally.
He sensed her feeling. "No," he said affectionately, "we can make several major improvements."
She gave him a peculiar look. "Are you proposing to me?"
A quiet look deepened his green eyes. "Let's just say I was making a suggestion about things to come."

you are right DP, you know better it was not an obvious proposal, just a sort of insinuation...
verdict: no proposal in Inca Gold, as I understand...