A Dream Within A Dream: You Don't Know Me Blog Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for YOU DON'T KNOW ME! Today I have a great excerpt from the book to share with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

You Don't Know Me

Author: Faleena Hopkins

Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense

Release Date: August 17, 2015

Description:

An orphan and aspiring dancer learns her father wasn't who she thought, when on her twenty-first birthday she inherits $50 million dollars and two difficult brothers she never knew she had. Can their rockstar best friend stand up for her? And can he change her mind about wanting to be alone? While this is a romance, it's also very much about family and especially siblings.

“I want to go home and read these letters. That’s all I want to do,” I say, under my breath. Looking up into Mr. Henderson gravely curious eyes, I tell him, “It’s obvious my mother never took his money. Why should I?”

He purses his lips and considers this. “That’s a good question. One I didn’t expect to ever hear in my lifetime, but a good question, nonetheless. The thing is, Ms. Calliwell, you’re right about your mother turning it down. Max told me he’d tried very hard to give it to her. She threatened to never speak to him again if he did, and that’s what staid his hand.”

I blink at this. “You mean they spoke after I was born?” A lump of pain is in my throat, so sharp it has edges. My stomach turns over and I moan, “Did they continue the affair? Please tell me.”

The old man tilts his head with compassionate patience. “She sometimes took his calls, but they never saw each other in person again. He would search her out, and watch her from afar, but he was sure she never knew. If she did, is unclear.”

“He stalked her?” I’m picturing handsome Maxwell Stone in his car watching my mom go into the bank, the post office, or taking me to the park. I can’t get my mind around it! It’s just too bizarre and awful. “He must have loved her.”

Mr. Henderson pauses before he nods. “I’m glad the boys are gone. Can I trust you to keep what I say next, between us?”

“Of course!”

He regards me for a couple seconds, and then says on a long sigh, “I’ve known this family my whole life. My father used to be their grandfather’s lawyer. I took over and… oh, well, you don’t care about an old man’s ravings. What you care about is the truth. I can see that. So if you’ll allow me, I’ll tell you on the one condition you don’t tell Jack or Sean. Do I have your word?”

I nod, clutching the letters tightly. “Yes. Yes! I promise.”

He licks his lips, the raisin-like skin shifting around them as he considers how to say what he’s about to. He glances to his desk and moves two pens into a container, one at a time. “I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to ever think your mother was any of the things the press will surely call her. Maxwell pursued her. He told me about it all when I tried to convince him that his will would cause a lot of pain, and not just for you. The whole family. But he looked into my eyes–and mind you, Max Stone was not a gentle soul. He was shrewd. Romantic is something I never would have called him. But he looked into my eyes and said, I’ve only ever loved one woman. And she had my child. I’m not allowed to see that child, nor the woman who has my heart, Tom. Do you understand I must do something for the girl?” Mr. Henderson stares at me as I take this in, a tear falling down my cheek again. “I asked him why didn’t he divorce his wife if he loved Olivia so much. He shook his head and said that he hadn’t been brave enough. He knew the press would tear them all apart. He said–and it broke my aging heart to hear it – I was a coward. And I’ve paid for that mistake with my soul.”

I wipe my cheek, looking again at the letters. What kind of answers do these thin, worn envelopes conceal? “He wanted to see me?”

“He did.”

I nod, gulping down the ache. “And the brothers. Why don’t you want to tell them the truth?”

“They think their father loved their mother.”

“I’ve written books since age five or six when I first sold a crayon-illustrated short story to my parents for a dollar.”

Faleena Hopkins is drawn to telling stories of love or redemption, and often both. Hiding behind the pen name “Sabrina Lacey” when she began writing, Faleena now publishes only under her own name. She’s an actress and director, too, and currently lives in Atlanta, GA, with her crazy-cute dog, Pippin. Learn more about her filmmaking career at http://imdb.me/faleenahopkins

Author Links:

http://www.authorfaleenahopkins.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7102410.Faleena_Hopkins

https://www.facebook.com/authorfaleenahopkins

https://twitter.com/faleenahopkins

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0143PGMCC