I don't agree that therapy without love is a lost cause. I think that therapy needs to be whatever the client wants it to be at the moment they are in. And this can shift. And the therapist needs to be able to shift with these needs.

I fought the attachment, I did not want to feel that close and vulnerable. But now, I think it is in the being there that I am making progress.

I think a type of therapy 'love' (not romantic) is what is in my therapeutic relationship, it feels somewhat like it to me......but hell, I could also be way off as my recognition of love has not been always accurate or real. Maybe this is part of my work.........

Like you, I would never use the word love to express how I feel about my therapist though, not to him. Not ever.