The Cowboy's Texas Rose (The Dixons of Legacy Ranch 1)

She peered over Rose’s shoulder at the brown, fuzzy tarantula on the ground in front of them.

“Ohmigod, Doctor. R!” she shrieked, jumping backward. “No, no, no. No way am I going near that. It’s as big as my hand!”

Rose grinned, preparing to placate her student, and turned around to find Kelsey clinging to Toby like a squirrel scampering up a tree. Her smile dropped. Toby’s eyes connected with hers and held her stare. He extracted his arm from Kelsey, his gaze never severing.

“It’s just a tarantula,” Rose replied, turning back around.

“Just a tarantula?” Kelsey said.

“Yeah. It won’t hurt you. We’ll just go around it. Come on.”

But Kelsey shook her head resolutely. “No way. I didn’t realize I’d be fighting off poisonous spiders—”

Rose frowned. “Kelsey, we’re all coming back as a group in a couple hours. You’ll love the artwork when we get there, but you have to get accustomed to the wildlife out here. Nothing will bother you if you don’t bother it. Did you read the handout I gave everyone at the orientation session? About desert hazards?”

Kelsey shook her head sheepishly. “But I brought it along.”

Rose sighed. Kelsey couldn’t wuss out on her. Everyone on the trip had to pull some weight if they wanted credit, and with barely enough in her grant to cover the field-school expenses, she needed every student she could get to complete the documentation outlined for these three weeks.

“All right, back up we go—”

“Hey, you stay put, Doctor. R. I’ll take her back,” Toby said, pointing to the ground like he was commanding a puppy. “I wanna get my tour. C’mon.” He farmed Kelsey in front of him and started back up the path.