Amber Flame

Amber Flame is a historical romance by Hannah Howell, published in 1988. Its two central characters are Gregory Talbott and Annabelle Pace, who were in love once.

Annabelle left him without giving any explanation, and that is the fact the whole book works from. She is now described as a beautiful seductress who has come back to town, and Gregory has decided that this time he will have an answer.

Getting one is not straightforward. Annabelle refuses to play second fiddle to the causes that occupy a minister's life, which is part of what drove her away, and one kiss between them releases everything she had been holding back. She is not the only one who has been holding something back, which is what the book spends its time uncovering.

The novel is about whether Gregory can show her that he always wanted her as his bride rather than as an addition to his work, and it runs on the gap between what he intends to say and what he is able to say when she is in the room.