A Mere Formality — Ilona Andrews

Deidre Lebed is perfectly happy: she is a cultural attache living on a spacestation where she studies the Reigh - an aloof martial culture that splintered from the Federation many years ago. But when a threat of an alien invasion combines with a unexpected marriage proposal, the shy academic must do everything in her power to prevent the loss of life. Including looking at dirty magazines.

Warning: lots of dirty jokes.