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Does it mean "thank you for insult"? But who thanks for insult?:)
“You love her.”
Nick met his twin’s knowing gaze.
“More than I ever thought possible.”
Ralston leaned back in his chair.
“So why are you here, drinking scotch in my study?”
“Because she doesn’t love me.”
“Nonsense.”
The word came fast and frank. Nick shook his head.
“I appreciate your affront, Gabriel, but I assure you. Isabel does not love me.”
— Sarah MacLean "Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord"
The "affront" is the blunt comment "Nonsense". It's not really an insult, but it is blunt and direct. An "affront" is, perhaps, a metaphorical "slap in the face". And Gabriel's blunt response "Nonsense" is a slap in the face to Nick. (I don't think this is an error for "effort", I think "affront" is the word the author intended)
However the choice of word is odd but MacLean seems to be trying to create the effect of a nineteenth century romance, rather than standard modern English.
It is very probable that it's an error, for "effort."
It is, however, conceivable that the "affront" lies in telling him he's talking nonsense. On one hand, it's trying to encourage him, but on the other hand, it's implicitly calling him stupid. The thanks would be ironic, drawing attention to the insulting side of it.
I agree, affront doesn't fit there. It sounds as if effort would fit much better.
To clarify, the effort is the attempt of one person to reassure the other, by denying the claim "she doesn't love me".
There may have been a typographical error, or an OCR (optical character recognition) error in digitizing a printed text.
