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

“Next time. This is your special day, and I want to treat you.”


This earned them a muttered comment of, “Bloody poofters.”


Mitch whirled around to confront a couple of college age kids who were standing in line behind them. He also stepped to the side to shield John from whatever trouble might occur.


“Did I just hear something?” Mitch growled, tensed his arm muscles and clenched his fists.


“Mitch, no.” John put a hand on his arm.


Mitch somehow knew what John was trying to tell him. If he decked either or both of these two, the police would probably get involved and…


“Jimmy!” the smaller of the too dug his friend in the ribs. Turning to Mitch, he continued, “Sorry, sir. He didn’t mean nothing.”


Chapter 51