Free Southern Seduction by Brenda Jernigan

can produce cheaper and in Louisiana cane grows faster. Cane is a ratoon crop.” When he saw her puzzled expression, he explained further. “The cane is cut at ground level so the roots of the plants are left there. Next spring a new plant will sprout from the roots. So I save the labor of planting for three years.”
    “Well, that certainly sounds smart, but why only three years?”
    “Thank you,” he said with a smile and a nod. “After the third harvest, we plow up the roots and the field is left fallow to replenish nutrients in the soil. In other words, the land is allowed to rest.”
    Brooke smiled. That was what she’d been doing for the past two years, letting her body lie fallow so she’d be good as new when she found a lover, or a husband, if she could convince Travis to cooperate.
    She looked back over the field. “So tell me ...” she paused “ ... everything.”
    Travis’s brow rose. He hesitated, measuring her for a moment before inquiring, “Are you certain you want to know?”
    “Of course, I do,” Brooke replied quickly, a little too quickly, he thought. But she did look sincere.
    “I want to know everything about the plantation operations. You can’t image what it’s like being cooped up in the city all the time. So far, I’ve found that I love this country with all its wide-open spaces, and I want to understand how it works.”
    “All right,” Travis said. He hoped by now she would have tired. He’d been wrong. Perhaps once she learned how much work was actually involved, she’d let up on her notion that she could somehow run a plantation. For God sake she was a woman after all. “Let’s ride down to the fields so you can see firsthand.” Travis nudged his mount down the levee. “Follow me.”
    “ The land seems to be below the levee,” Brooke observed.
    Travis was impressed at her observation, despite himself. At first he thought she was pretending to be interested, but no one could be that great an actress. Perhaps, the woman wasn’t empty headed as he’d first thought. He found this notion very intriguing. “You are correct, madam. The land ranges from five to fifty feet below sea level here, and that is why you see so many levees. One of the most important tasks for those who live along the Delta is to maintain the levee system. As you can imagine, if any one of them broke we could lose everything.”
    “What a frightening thought,” Brooke murmured, almost to herself. She halted her horse in front of one of the fields. “It’s so tall,” she said, motioning toward the cane.
    “A good ten feet.”
    Brooke pointed toward a group of workers. “What are those people doing? Of course, I can see that are cutting the stalks with something, but explain what happens next? Explain the process.”
    Again she seemed truly sincere, so Travis indulged her in spite of himself. Something about her eagerness to learn intrigued him. It was most unusual in a woman.
    He gestured toward the workers who were bent over from their arduous task. Some had removed their shirts, their black skin glistening with sweat.
    “Those men,” he indicated with a nod, “are cutting the cane at the base of the stalks with machetes. They will trim the unripe joints at the top of the stalk and slash downward, removing the dead foliage. The cane will then be stacked on the mule-drawn carts over there,” he said pointing. “Then it will be taken to the mill, which you’ll see later on. Many trips will be made before the day is over. It’s important to get the sugarcane to the mill as soon as possible because of deterioration of the sugar. And that is the second reason that sugarcane is a dangerous crop.”
    Brooke shifted her horse so that she could better see Travis and hear his explanation. She wanted to keep him talking while he was in good humor. She wasn’t sure how long his present mood would last, but she much preferred him this way. “Does it take a couple of years to grow?"
    He chuckled.