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

“I hope he’ll stick at it once I go back to London. Part of me wants to stay here to make sure he keeps on studying.”


“But another part of me is scared that he wouldn’t be interested in anything permanent.”


The bear growled again, trying to make it even softer than the previous time.


“I can’t ask him if he wants something more long-term, Teddy. I just can’t.” John’s head sank to his chest.


The bear withdrew his paw and opened his mouth to try a whimper. It ended up sounding more like a cough. Giving up on vocalisations, the bear leaned forward and licked John’s face once again.


“Did anyone ever tell you that your tongue is really rough?” John said with a smile. “And you’ve still got a breath problem.”


The bear was glad he’d at least lifted the man’s mood.


“I thought about inviting Mitch to come back with me to London, but…” John shook his head and sighed. “Mitch is definitely a country mouse, uh, man, and I’m more of a town mouse.”


Chapter 62