Balthier is a ladies man, he flirts with Penelo, Ashe and Fran. by putting that bit in it seems that him and ashe no longer really care about each other that much.
She's not bothered by his flirting and he just shrugs when she walks off as if to say "whatever", if they had anything between them its long gone.
Balthier flirts, thats just his way. But he is only genuinely affectionate to Fran. he bites Vaan's head of for questioning her, one of the kids says he got angry when the kid bumped into Fran, he says she's special. that bloke that gets a date with a veira got the idea from seeing them together, He looked (SPOILER)more upset by her hinting to him to leave her behind at pharos than he did when his own father died, and i read somewhere that in revenant wings you find out that he's keeps (SPOILER)giving her flowers and he takes (SPOILER)her on the strahl to look at the stars.
I think its clear that SHE loves him and that under all his issues and when he's grown up a bit he'll admit that he loves her.