On his first night renting a cottage on the Cornish coast, widower John Tennant comes face to face with, of all things, a grizzly bear. Fearing for his life, John tries to convince the animal he isn't worth eating, and is relieved when the bear ambles away. Maintenance man Mitch Benjamin is two hundred years old but doesn’t look a day over forty. As a werebear, he needs to stay under the radar. The new renter is making that difficult. Not only is John attractive, but his vulnerability triggers all of Mitch’s protective instincts. If that wasn’t trouble enough, Mitch is struggling with his inner bear’s desire to befriend John. He knows what his bear is up to, but Mitch doesn’t want another mate. His last one was murdered ninety years ago, and he’s still grieving. John is confused by Mitch’s mixed signals. Physically, Mitch -- with his bulging muscles and hulking frame -- is a gay man’s wet dream come true. But emotionally, he keeps closing down. John discovers more comfort with the magnificent grizzly bear he occasionally meets on his evening walks along the beach. In an effort to help, Morwenna, the owner of the cottages, uses her psychic gifts to give John a message from his dead lover, George. Far from helping, it adds another layer of strangeness to what’s already turning out to be the strangest summer John can remember. Can a well-meaning medium and a determined grizzly bring John and Mitch together? Will Mitch come clean about his werebear nature? If he does, can John accept that a man and bear exist in the same body?

Summer's Lease

“Well, I suppose I ought to put my suitcases in the car,” John said, sounding reluctant.


The battle within Mitch began to rage once again. Yes, it would be a lot simpler if the guy left and Mitch could get back to his life. But John was cute, kind, and…He opened his mouth, but John was the first to speak.


“Your forehead, I’ve only just noticed. It’s healed. I don’t understand how.”


I’m a werebear, Mitch thought. “I heal fast.”


John’s hand came up as if he were about to touch Mitch’s forehead, but then fell back. Obviously John had had second thoughts.


Mitch wasn’t sure if he’d have welcomed the contact or not.


“Morwenna says she’s in the middle of baking bread so can’t leave just now,” the Admiral said, rejoining them.


That was news to Mitch. Normally she only baked bread on Mondays. But then there was plenty that was odd about the past couple of days.


“Oh, I guess I could drive you there,” John offered, looking uncertainly at his cottage then back at the Admiral.


Chapter 14