Gayle Trent

The Flame Gayle Trent

Sparks flew from the moment they met. Beryl Madison answered her summons to teacher Terry Goodson's second-grade classroom to defend her nephew's "odd behavior" like an avenging angel. It seems poor little Duncan "is having some type of fantasy ideation"--he's been telling some of his classmates that his aunt is a superhero. When Beryl shows up in a yellow catsuit with orange flames, a mardi gras mask, and red stiletto boots, Terry thinks he's the one having the fantasy ideation now. Come to find out, Beryl is merely in her work clothes. One of her jobs is playing "The Flame" for a local television station's morning children's show. The pair end up working together to bring a seedy attorney to justice, and they begin to see that the spontaneous combustion each sets off in the other is more than a physical attraction. It could be the once-in-a-lifetime explosion they'd always been afraid they'd find--Terry because he's unwilling to give up his happy-go-lucky lifestyle; Beryl because she's terrified of being hurt.