The Devil's Web by Mary Balogh

I tried to like this book but.... In one of my groups there's a discussion along the lines of "Books in which the hero & heroine hated each other through 90% of the book" - this book falls into that group. Throughout the book there are several minor characters that form attachments that are more loving and friendship centered. The two main characters go through 95% of the book arguing and the hero keeps being beastly to the heroine - insulting her at every turn. He has an internal struggle because his real feelings, so he tells himself, are of a more loving and tender nature. Intellectually I understand what he says his reason for treating the heroine this way is - that is, I understand that he's speaking English but really I don't get it. At the very end he has a mea culpa but, as a reader, that didn't excuse his torturing the heroine and me as the reader.