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

“Uh, yeah.” John laid the garments on the counter. “When can I collect them?”


“Tomorrow morning,” the woman said, writing out a ticket.


John paid and left the shop, his erection thankfully easing up.


Knowing he hadn’t spoken with Doris in a couple of days, John got out his mobile phone, but quickly discovered the battery was flat and he hadn’t brought the car charger. George had always taken care of technical things like that. And now without him…John blinked rapidly.


Stop it! John admonished himself. You’re doing really well, you’ve gone on holiday by yourself, you’re enjoying it, you’ve made new friends. He shook his head. What would George think of him having feelings for another man?


Chapter 38