"You had me at 'ox bow lake'." The girl laughed, twirling a strand of silky blonde hair around her finger and leaning towards David, giving him a tantalising glimpse of her cleavage. He swallowed hard, trying to stay calm. This girl...Megan? Mary? Melissa! Anyway, she was a student, one of his students, and he knew her game. There was at least one every year, the girl who attempted to coast through university on looks alone. Invariably she would behave just like this, taking front row seats in every lecture she attended but spending more time trying to make eye contact with the professors than taking notes, and then dazzling them with her charm at social gatherings just like this one. She would fail all of her exams come June, and be nowhere to be seen next September. But she would take at least one love-struck professor down with her.

Well it wasn't going to be him. He ended the conversation politely but firmly, turned his attention to a visiting professor from Germany, and breathed a sigh of relief when she left the room on Arthur's arm an hour later. Temptation had been removed. His reputation was intact. Only...right now it didn't feel like much of a victory.