I remember when I was 20 or 21, I came across one of those "free share" library things in someone's yard. Essentially, it's a bunch of books you can take for free, but the idea is you have to eventually return it or add a book of your own. No "really good" books are there, so stealing isn't much of a problem.
Anyway, a bunch of romance novels were in there, so I decided, "ah, this is my chance - I can read a bunch of these novels and find out what women REALLY want. Sure, they'll be boring, but it will be like a study." So, since all of them look the same, I started reading the backs of them and flipping through the pages to get a gist of it and select a few. However, I quickly found out they actually WERE all the same.
>tall, muscular rich man
>has emotional problems, is often quick to anger and slow to let others "in"
>However, when he met "her" things were different
>Over time she gains his trust, he opens up to her
>He gets angry with her a few times, but then eventually begins to protect her, only growing angry at the outside world
>He makes love to her passionately yet aggressively
>He marries her and allows her access to his immense power and wealth
That's it, in a nutshell. I didn't even have to actually take/read one of the books - I understood.
There's many videos online confirming this, it's a well established "trope" in the publishing industry. They're called "Harlequin romances," and they're essentially text based pornography for women.
Here's a great recap by e-dad, JP:
youtube.com/watch?v=p8ePDKlF6T0
TL;DR
Women want tall, muscular, rich, powerful men who are feared/respected by the world but is seduced and tamed around her, quite often by her own admitted weakness and naivety.