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

“Bloody useless shitting thing!” John cursed as he tried to close the hatchback. How had he managed to get everything in okay when he’d packed the car in London?


John whirled around and saw Nick, Bandit wagging her tail enthusiastically next to him.


Letting out a deep breath, John tried to calm down. If anyone in this fucked up place was normal, it was Nick. “I can’t get the door to shut.”


John let go of the hatchback and it rose open.


“Need to get home.” John would have said more, but he didn’t want to take out his frustrations on Nick.


“Oh dear. We’ll both be sad to see you go.”


“You could always put some of the stuff on the backseat.”


“I could, but I don’t want to damage the leather. Siobhan was George’s pride and joy and…” John sniffed, castigating himself for being such an emotional wreck.


Chapter 32