Free A Gentleman's Daughter: Her Choice by Reina M. Williams

Really, I think you do not like charming men. I do not want to hear of it. I have been subjected to enough of such talk about Mr. Cateret. I will judge Mr. Mainmount for myself.” Cecilia bridled at Amelia’s superior tone, and at her own concealments.
    “Oh, Cecilia, when will you learn? You have been sheltered, for though you may think you have more freedom in the country, you are more confined. Here I may go about to Mrs. Morris’s, the subscription library, parks, and museums, as long as I have a respectable companion. I have learned the ways of the world thusly. Also I have had no men about to keep me unaware of the vices of their sex.”
     “I will hear no more. You come too close to maligning my dear papa and Wil.” Cecilia rose with a frown, though she softened when Amelia patted her shoulder. “It is too early for me to need make any decisions. I shall simply try to employ my father’s edict to enjoy myself.”
    Cecilia did not at first believe she would experience any pleasure upon seating herself in Mr. Thornhill’s curricle after he called for her shortly after breakfast. However, he was most companionable and they were in accord on the beauty of the outdoors. His observant eye, which noted everything from a pretty cluster of daffodils to the types of trees throughout the park, impressed her.
    “I am no naturalist, Miss Wilcox. But I take pleasure where I can in London. I have spent many an hour here on my sojourns.”
    “Indeed, your keen eye must be an asset to you at your home. Such observance of detail must only increase your capable management of and pleasure in your grounds.” Cecilia’s father had taught her to recognize and respect responsible landowners.
    “Thank you, I hope you are such a careful observer of all men’s behavior and qualities.”
    Cecilia flushed, for she did not like his veiled hint. Surely he tried to caution her against Mr. Mainmount again. After already disagreeing about him with Amelia earlier, Cecilia had no wish to repeat such a conversation, so she pretended to take his comment at face value.
    “I try to, sir, though some tell me my judgment is not always so keen as my observation.”
    “You are young yet, your father must guide your discernment.”
    She clasped her hands. She had been used to trusting her own judgment and had been respected in it by her father, brother, Polly, Mrs. Partridge, and Mr. Cateret. Perhaps that had been their indulgence of her youth, for none of them gave any indication recently that they did.
    “I suppose we women must learn to acquire a submissive temperament to better obey our father or husband,” Cecilia said in a tone which belied her words, echoing what she had read in one of Polly’s books, not that she had managed to finish the exalted tome.
    “You do not seem wholly reconciled to this, Miss Wilcox,” Mr. Thornhill said, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
    “My mother would tell you my father, brother, and our friends have been too indulgent of me. She has sought to remedy this and I see she may be correct.”
    “Have you experienced some misadventure that caused this change in your thinking?”
    Cecilia was surprised he came so close to the matter, though he had such eyes as seemed to see into her very soul. She shook her head at her own fancy. Certainly she would not give any hint of her disappointment in Mr. Cateret to Mr. Thornhill.
    “You yourself have observed my misadventure, Mr. Thornhill,” Cecilia said with a twinkling laugh. “It has been brought to bear on me that a woman of eighteen must be a different creature than a girl of sixteen.”
    “I hope this does not lead you to become one of those sophisticated women, full of scorn and intrigue. Your innocence and modesty do you credit and must be properly protected,” Mr. Thornhill replied, a crease in his brow.
    Cecilia blushed at such an estimation of herself. “Perhaps I am used to enjoying the protection of my father and brother,