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

“She was. And why not? You’re…very handsome.” John hid his blush behind his menu. “I think I’ll have the soup.”


“Now for the main courses.” John turned another page. “Fish. Locally caught salmon in dill sauce. Hmm. I know I should have that, but…Fresh crab on a bed of salad greens. Possible, but I don’t know. Ah ha!” John smiled. “Steak and kidney pie. That would be what George would have chosen. But I guess you wouldn’t like organ meat.”


Mitch looked up. “Actually, I quite like it.”


John raised an eyebrow. “Served with rich onion gravy, chipped potatoes, and peas. A definite possibility.”


John continued to read aloud various other options, Mitch beginning to relax.


John went to the bar to order their food and get more drinks, another micro brew beer for Mitch and a lemon soda for himself. As Mitch had paid for the first round, John put his foot down about paying for the second. Mitch thought it cute how the guy insisted.


Chapter 41