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

“No!” His eyes snapped open. He was not going to carve a bear wrapping itself around a human to keep said human warm.


Dropping the wood on his workbench, Mitch began to pace his small workshop. Why had he agreed to share John’s blanket? Why had he encouraged the man to snuggle up to him? The man’s face, troubled while awake, had softened in sleep. Mitch had wanted to bring John peace and a sense of security. But it had come at too high an emotional cost. John’s departure for the bathroom had been the wake up call Mitch had needed. Yes, it was good to look after others, but first and foremost he had to look after himself. So he’d made his excuses and left, hoping John would understand, and even if he didn’t, then…


Although tired, Mitch was too restless for sleep, and his mind was too concerned with things that shouldn’t concern it to allow him to focus back on his work.


Chapter 26