Read a Link in AS from XML

All,
I’m trying to have my script read an XML file and in the XML file I’m trying to put a link. If I have just regular text in the XML file it works fine. If I have it like the following it works fine:

<images imagesSmall="gallery/tfile_small_1_4.jpg" imagesBig="gallery/tfile_gall_1_4.jpg" imageTitle="This is a test4"/>

Then I’m trying to make the title a link. So if I do something like:

<images imagesSmall="gallery/tfile_small_1_4.jpg" imagesBig="gallery/tfile_gall_1_4.jpg" imageTitle="<a href="espn.com">ESPN</a>"/>

I get the message that my XML is malformed. How can I include some HTML in this field? Also I my AS code as htmlText like the following:

MovieClip(root).all_gallery.all_pics.gall.my_txt.htmlText

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!