Dr Fielding rejoiced the day he had created the virtual character of Edward Coburg. Edward's homepage was as benign as that of the average doctoral candidate geek but buried in it was a smear of honey that trapped the juiciest of flies: an essay on political theory entitled 'The Neo of the neo-conservatives' movement'. Every year Dr Fielding set his third year undergraduates a list of essay question one of which was 'Neo-conservatism: old dogs with new tricks?' And every year a few students, mostly the lazy, some with just pitiable low esteem for their own ideas, would waste time that could have been spent in genuine study, trying to Google the answer. And lo! They thought they had hit the jackpot, a beautifully crafted essay written by Edward, an unpublished PhD student studying at some weird English language University in the Hague. And every year, one or two would submit to him a few paragraphs of undigested plagiarism if not the whole essay. The website never showed up in the top 60 hits and therefore neatly sifted the idle from the truly committed , or the truly desperate.
Nevertheless the hook had never caught such an exquisite nor unexpected fish as Angelina Day. Angelina was one of the stars of the politics departments at Oxford. She rarely failed to achieve a top grade and one or two of her papers had been put forward for publication. Hard to believe, thought Dr Fielding as he ran his eyes from the smart knee high boots to the tumbling chocolate curls that hid her down turned face that this girl was just 20 years old. Harder still to believe that someone for whom top grades seemed to come so easily had fallen into the honey trap. It took Dr Fielding an enormous effort to hide his glee and keep his face appropriately stern. He didn't want to move too quickly with this one. The others, perhaps more used to the rough in life, had reached for his offer of redemption like a lifeline. This one appeared to have a moral haughtiness. Pride before the fall.
"I've been under so much pressure." she began. "I had three papers due in the same week and then a friend, well, she needed me...". Her voice shook and her hands twisted the bottom of her dress on her thighs.
He shushed her with a wave of his hand. "The excuse is not important." he said. "As I'm sure you were aware when you cut and pasted from the internet, plagiarism is an offense that demands your expulsion from the University". Angelina continued to stare at the ground and her professor allowed a pregnant pause to widen. "Such a waste," he continued "of such a very beautiful talent'. He came out from behind his desk and stood in front of where she sat. He was over six foot with a large square frame. He wore black corduroy pants with a charcoal lamb wool roll neck. His salt and pepper hair and rimless spectacles were the only indications of his age and profession. "If only there was a way I could wipe such a ridiculous mistake from your record." She raised her teary eyes slowly to his crotch and then to his face where they met with a twinkly gaze. "Such a clever girl!" thought Dr Fielding. She had caught his meaning in an instant. "For a liar and a cheat, you look surprisingly appalled." said Dr Fielding. "Did you really think you could pull the wool over my eyes, disrespect me in such a blatant way without consequences?"
She looked away to some corner of the room and tried to square her chin defiantly. Dr Fielding walked over to the door and checked the lock. He turned and walked back to Angelina, put his hand gently but firmly under her chin and pulled her to her feet. He stroked her jaw, her ear and her lips with his thumb while the other hand pressed into the small of her back. She was exquisite, somehow curvaceous and finely built at the same time. Her plum wool dress snaked around her breasts and hips, nipped in by a brown leather belt around her waspish waist. Angelina eyes slowly refocused and turned to meet his. "Not so bad is it?" whispered the professor.
"I don't have a choice." said Angelina. "Lets just see, shall we?" said Dr Fielding, bending his head and kissing her deeply. She stayed rigid in his arms but as he alternated between prizing her lips apart and grazing his mouth across her chin, her eyes and her hairline she began to relax. She was surprised by the tenderness and sureness of his touch. There was no hint of the dangerous situation he was putting himself in.