"I think most people would qualify it as love, or at least something close to it."

Although far be it from him to put a label on anything anyone else feels, especially when it comes to attachments. He can only say what other people might consider it, not what it really is, though he knows that, of course, Ned has said that he's in love with Daneel. And then he wonders whether what he said was entirely appropriate, and hastens to add:

"I apologize for... overstepping my boundaries by saying so."