yes
then you can use the dom references for your links to detect when a link is clicked and you can execute code to reload the html page (so the html-linked page doesn't load) and you can use navigateToURL. for example:
var htmlLoader:HTMLLoader = new HTMLLoader();
htmlLoader.width = 300;
htmlLoader.height = 300;
addChild(htmlLoader);
htmlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, completeHandler);
htmlLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://www.kglad.com/Files/test/menu.html"));
function completeHandler(event:Event):void {
htmlLoader.window.document.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].onclick = clickHandler;
}
var t:Timer=new Timer(1,1);
t.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER,reloadF);
function clickHandler(e:Object):void{
t.start();
htmlLoader.removeEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, completeHandler);
navigateToURL(new URLRequest(htmlLoader.window.document.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].href));
}
function reloadF(e:TimerEvent):void{
htmlLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://www.kglad.com/Files/test/menu.html"));
}