You're right, but still... "He didn’t remember love, but he did remember attraction." - and in the same chapter about Navani: "He could vividly remember desiring her. Thinking about her, captivated by the way she talked, the things she knew, the look of her hands as she sketched—or, storms, as she did something as simple as raising a spoon to her lips. He remembered staring at her." Since this hasn't changed much over time, i'd say he was in love with Navani all the time while maybe trying to use Evi as a distraction. Is a distraction a reason to go to the Nightwatcher?
That would fit considering how Dalinar is characterized in his flashback chapters...