Page 1 of The Rogue (Four Corners Ranch #11)

Ruby Matthews had her life together. She had a perfect little house, with a perfect little yard. She had a very perfect little

dog. She had the perfect engagement ring and the perfect fiancé—deployed at the moment—and a perfect wedding dress in her

closet waiting for her very perfect day.

It was important to Rue that she had those things, because her life growing up had been very, very far from perfect. Things

being the way they were now felt right, after the chaos of her upbringing.

Everything had a place. A perfect, neat place where it belonged.

All of her yarn organized by weight and fiber in little baskets in her extra bedroom.

Her dresses belonged in rainbow-colored order in her closet.

Her beloved grandmother’s ashes belonged beneath a cherry tree at King’s Crest, the place she loved most in the world.

Asher belonged by her side as her husband, and their wedding was in one month, which meant it was almost time for that to

happen.

And Justice? He belonged right up at the front of the church when she and Asher had their wedding. Because he was her best friend in the whole wide world, and he was her man of honor. It was his place.

Oh, Justice.

It was impossible to oversell the impact of Justice King. When he walked into a room, he created a ripple. You couldn’t not notice. He was tall, halfway over six foot, with broad shoulders and sandy brown hair. His eyes were a deep green that seemed

almost otherworldy. His jaw was square, his nose straight, his lips...

She had heard a woman say once that his lips were made for sin.

Rue wasn’t sure what that meant but it had stuck with her.

He was her best friend. The greatest guy she knew.

Except he was late for his suit fitting because he was a careening, disastrous mess who washed his face only when she reminded

him to. Or when he was going out to pick up women, which he did a lot.

It could be argued that Justice’s place was actually in the dog pound, because the man was nothing but a hound. But she was

way too fond of him to argue that point.

She was getting anxious because she was had been waiting with the seamstress in her front room for ten minutes, and Justice

hadn’t answered his text and he was eight whole minutes late. The seamstress had been early.

Rue herself was always early, and Justice was always late.

It made her want to...

But just then his truck pulled into the driveway and her heart lifted. She was so, so glad to see him. Because time was wasting and she hated wasted time.

He parked his truck and walked through her front door without knocking. Which made her feel a strange note of wistfulness,

because when she moved in with Asher, Justice wouldn’t be able to just do that. She and Asher would be being newlyweds and

having... sex and intense conversations about meal planning. At least that was her understanding of newly married life

based on TV and books. She would not be basing her marriage off her parents.

No matter what, the shift would change Justice’s position in her life.

She frowned.

“You’re late,” she said.

“Sorry, Rue,” he said, his voice sounding scratchy and unrepentant. “I’ll do better next time.”

He always said that. Rue could only assume that his version of best worked for her on some level or she wouldn’t have made him such an integral part of her existence.

“When, at the next tux fitting or my next wedding?” she asked.

He grinned. “Yep.”

“The only way I’ll be having two weddings is if the first one is ruined because the man of honor is late.” She gave him the

evil eye and Sue Quackenbush, the seamstress, gave him a swift once-over.

“Come on over here,” she said.

She began to measure him without preamble, and Rue watched the proceedings closely. Justice gave her a smile and a wink as

Sue measured down his inseam.

“Careful,” he said.

“I know what I’m doing,” she responded, brusquely.

Rue liked it when a woman wasn’t flustered by Justice. It was far too easy for him to get a reaction out of women. They shouldn’t

reward his bad behavior.

“Where were you?” Rue asked, because suddenly she was suspicious.

“In bed.”

She couldn’t help herself; she let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re a cowboy, Justice. How do you end up sleeping past noon?”

“Easy. I party till the cows come home. Then I feed the cows. Then I go to bed.”

“Lord.” She scrubbed her hand over her forehead.

“Okay,” said Sue. “Go in the next room and put these on.” She pulled some pants, a vest, a shirt and a jacket off her rolling

clothes rack. “They’ll be close. Then I’ll put some pins in and make the alterations.”

Justice went into her bedroom without checking with her first. It was clean, thankfully. She knew that.

He emerged a few minutes later and she was stunned speechless. Motionless. Thoughtless.

She knew Justice better than she knew anyone. She knew him after a hard day’s work. She knew him as a third-grade boy who

wouldn’t read and who’d had to take lessons from her, a girl a whole grade younger than him. She knew him as a protector,

a terrible poker player, a first-rate playboy.

But she’d never known him in a tux.

Good. Lord.

He was too powerful. She was going to have to warn her female family members, and Asher’s, who came from out of town, to be safe and vigilant where he was concerned because...

In a tux he was lethal .

All the broad, muscular lines of his body were so sharp in that suit. The black bow tie made him look like Cowboy James Bond.

She’d seen him cleaned up, but this was another level.

Justice, the man she’d known since childhood, had actually rendered her speechless.

“Well... well, that’s fantastic,” she said.

“Yes,” Sue agreed. “Just a few alterations to make.”

She was speedy with her pins, and far too quickly, Justice was back and changing out of the tux. “You’re going to make a great

decoration at the wedding,” Rue said.

She was only half kidding. Having him on stage looking like that was a boon. She could save on flowers. Who needed them when

you had all that cowboy to look at?

“Thanks, Rue, I always wanted to settle down and live a quiet life as something more aesthetic than useful. I’d be a great

paperweight.”

In spite of herself, Sue, who was really quite stoic, blushed. Justice was a whole thing and he couldn’t be stopped.

“I’ll have the altered suit back by the end of the week,” Sue said.

“Great,” Rue responded. “I’ll talk to you then.”

Sue hung everything on her rolling rack and collected her supplies, before leaving Justice and Rue alone in the house.

“I bet I could pull her if I wanted to,” he said.

“She has been married for thirty years and has nine children.”

“Your point?”

“Lord above, Justice, not everyone is an idiot over... that sort of thing.” She gestured wildly at him.

“If they aren’t then they aren’t doing it right.”

She cleared her throat. “So where were you really?”

“In bed. Really. I had a late night.”

Oh. That was code for hooking up. She knew Justice well.

Good for him, really.

It was fine that her sex life was sporadic.

She wasn’t jealous.

It was a hazard of an eight-year engagement to a man who’d been deployed for the majority of that time.

She wasn’t that sexual anyway. She liked sex. She liked being close to Asher. But it wasn’t a huge factor in her life. What she liked best

was the stability. The promise that he would be there for her always.

The certainty she felt with him.

He was her high school sweetheart. Her one and only. Their wedding was finally on the horizon and that was real .

So, Justice could wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am whoever he wanted to. That was empty. She had love . So there.

So very there.

“Well, at least you showed up without the scent of the work day clinging to you.” If she smelled too deeply there might be

a hint of perfume, though.

She wouldn’t smell deeply.

“You coming for dinner tonight?” he asked.

She spent most nights with the King family.

After her grandmother’s death last year she’d felt so alone.

Her grandma had been the most constant figure in her life.

She might not have raised her, but going to her house every day after she’d done school at the little one-room schoolhouse at Four Corners Ranch had been her salvation.

Her parents’ house had always been a mess of angry words and beer bottles. Rue hated the disorganization. Her own room had

always been spotless.

Her grandmother’s house had been a haven of sunlight and cookies. She and Justice had both spent days there, often. Her death

had been tough for him too, not that he’d actually said that. Justice wasn’t a big one for emotional sincerity.

Though, after the funeral he’d seen her crying behind the church and he’d taken her in his arms, hard and tight.

He’d smelled like the earth, the sun and Justice. So familiar, and so necessary in that moment when the church had been full

of all the family she didn’t know that well, while they said goodbye to the one person she had.

She cried into his jacket and left tear stains behind.

It had helped her hold it together later so she hadn’t had to cry on Asher.

But ever since then she’d eaten dinner at the main house at King’s Crest more often than not. King’s Crest was Justice’s family

ranch, part of the broader ranching collective of Four Corners Ranch, the largest ranching spread in the state of Oregon.

Sullivan’s Point was home to produce, baked goods and a farm store.

McCloud’s Landing was an equine therapy center.

Garrett’s Watch was a cattle ranch, and King’s had been too up until recently.

They still did their cattle, but they were expanding.

They had a new wedding venue they were almost finished with.

It was going to be gorgeous but she couldn’t wait for it to get done to be married there.

Also, as much as she loved King’s Crest, she really did think she needed a church wedding. It felt more grounded and traditional.

But the reception would be at King’s. They’d offered her the barn and outdoor area they used for town hall meetings—the big

all-ranch gatherings they had once a month to discuss their business and make new proposals, dance, eat and have a good time.

Asher had been a little bit meh about it, but the truth was, he was always a little meh about the ranch.

He didn’t get it, that was the thing. How could he?

Four Corners had always been a family. Even if, much like her own, it was dysfunctional in some ways. The school had been

small, and they’d all known each other—even if she and Justice had been closer to each other than to anyone else.

Justice was popular, he always had been. He played kickball, baseball and backyard football with the rowdier kids. She had

taught some of the other kids who preferred to sit to crochet, then eventually knit and the ones who were interested would

sit with her in relative silence while sports occurred.

They’d had different kinds of home lives. She’d never really talked about her situation with anyone but Justice.

The dirt, the trees, the view of the mountains, that would always be a profound part of her. Asher seemed to find it inconvenient that she liked to spend time there.

But it was fine. Asher would get it eventually, she was sure. Because no, she wasn’t going to keep eating dinner six nights

a week at King’s when they were married, but they would definitely go over sometimes. That was just how it was.

Justice and his family were part of her life.

“Yes,” she said. “I’d love to come to dinner. I might bring some bouquet pictures too. Maybe Penny and Bix can give some input.”

“You think Bix is going to tell you what flowers to get?”

Bix was Justice’s brother Daughtry’s fiancée. She was unorthodox to say the least. Rue had an interesting time with her. Not

that Penny was much better. A headstrong, feral woman who had been taken in by the Kings when she was a teenager, after her

dad had died.

“Maybe I’ll hold back unless Fia’s there.” His sister-in-law. There was no point showing flowers to his sister, Arizona, either.

It was sometimes a little sad not to have a passel of close female friends, though she did like the women of King’s Crest.

But Justice was the one whose opinion would always matter most. He would always be the one who mattered most.

“Probably a good plan.”

“I only have a month, Justice. Thirty days. And then Asher and I are finally going to be married and...”

“And what flowers you carried won’t really matter.”

She looked up at him, shocked by his uncharacteristic show of... sentimentality. It was deeply unlike him. “That’s really sweet, Justice.”

“Is it? You didn’t ask me why the flowers won’t matter.”

“Oh. Dear. Why won’t they matter?”

“Because men don’t give a shit about flowers. All he’ll care about is what you’re wearing, or not, under the wedding dress.”

She scoffed and tried to hold back the color she could feel bleeding into her cheeks. He was outrageous sometimes and it was

embarrassing, even though she should be used to it. “That isn’t true.”

“It is,” he said. “Trust me, I’m a man.”

“But you aren’t a man in love,” she said.

“What difference would that make? I’m still never going to care more about a bouquet than a bra.”

“But the whole thing matters when you’re in love. All of it. It’s not about sex. It’s about caring, and saying vows and...”

“The sex should matter,” he said.

“But it isn’t the point.”

He squinted. “It’s not?”

“No. Your thoughts on that are why you’re stuck in bar-hookup Groundhog Day, where you wake up at the same time every morning

with a different woman in your bed, doomed to repeat it again the next day.”

“First of all, is that supposed to sound bad?”

“Yes!”

“Second, I don’t wake up in the morning with anyone but me. I don’t spend the night with women I don’t know. It’s dangerous. You could get robbed. I practice safe sex.”

He smiled then, and she couldn’t be annoyed at him. Because that was how he was.

“Okay, get out of my house,” she said, pushing at his shoulder. “I have to go take inventory at the yarn store.”

Her grandmother’s yarn store was forty minutes away, in Mapleton, and it had been part of her inheritance. It was an established

shop with a full staff, but Rue worked there full-time and she loved it. She was a serious yarn addict. Her stash was the

only thing in her house that was overflowing.

It was organized, though.

By fiber, weight and color.

“Okay then, see you at dinner.”

He left then, and got in his truck. As she watched him drive away, she couldn’t help but sigh in a contented sort of way.

Everything was perfect.

Everything was in its rightful place.