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

The bear set the basket on the mat outside John’s cottage and pressed the button with his nose. He’d only just picked the basket back up when John opened the door.


“Teddy? You managed to persuade Mitch to let you come see me?” The man was smiling, obviously pleased to see him. “What have you got there?”


John saw the piece of paper and pulled it away. He read the note, once, twice and then started to blink rapidly. The bear could tell John was upset. Damn his human half for making John sad.


“Oh, Mitch. You, too, Teddy. What a wonderful surprise.”


The bear relaxed. Evidently John was upset in a good way. For as long as he lived, the bear knew he’d never fully understand humans, but they had their uses. The bear knew he’d never have been able to make up a food basket.


“Do you have anywhere in particular you want to eat this?”


The bear turned his head in the direction of the meadow his human had already organised.


“Okay, let me put my shoes on, then we can go.”


Chapter 86