This book gave me a headache.
The H was a domineering judgmental jackass who constantly overstepped himself, then got pissy at the h when she accused him of trying to seduce her.
The h was a hotheaded shrew.
The backstory on her is that her grandma died and she found herself unable to get a job with just a diploma in her native Vermont, so she went to NY to look for work. Not sure why there would be more opportunities - at least, that didn't involve a street corner. Also not sure why she didn't try to go to college since the financial situation should have gotten her grants/scholarships/etc. She got spotted by a modeling agent, so became a model.
So he spots her at a fashion show in Milan. She reminds him of an old girlfriend. He essentially buys out her contract, forcing her to accept his job offer of companion to his elderly grandmother. She assumes initially that he's trying to buy her services of another sort (what woman wouldn't, really?).
I didn't feel chemistry so much as irritation. She felt relief that he went away on a business trip even though she figured he was visiting other women. Then... his grandmother attempts I think to play matchmaker, he almost got lucky but said something that reminded her of his initial opinion of her, pissing her off and inspiring her to toss him out of her room. A day or so later, grandmama insisted she attend some business function he was putting on, he made an ass of himself, and she later visited him in his rooms to throw a tantrum (errr....) Naturally this leads to the only sex scene (which I skimmed because frankly I just wanted the mess to be OVER). The next day, he makes some proposal that comes across as him setting her up as mistress. She throws more tantrum. He agrees to let her leave.
God knows how many weeks later, she's back in Rome, apprenticing with a designer and gets pressed into service as a model (what else?) And...he sees her. He shoves her into his car, drags her off, and...proposes to her, confessing his undying love?! What the everloving hell?!
