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

Walking the corridors, not wanting to run, but equally needing to not be out of sight of Mitch for long, John made his way to the classroom and peeked in through the clear glass panel in the door. He saw Mitch anxiously looking through the window toward the cafeteria. John was about to knock on the door when Mitch seemed to sense his presence and turned his head. The smile of relief on the man’s face brought tears to John’s eyes. He gave Mitch a thumbs up, which the man returned


John stayed in place, not caring if his position looked odd to anyone passing behind him in the corridor.


Mitch returned his attention to the tutor, who looked as though he was beginning to wrap things up.


Chapter 49