As I recall, you live in the PNW. If that's the case, there are literally scores of possibilities. And keep in mind that in our benign climate, various selections - including several mentioned above - will ultimately exceed your intended size limitations but many will tolerate careful pruning to keep size in check. A visit to a good garden center should reveal countless choices but I might consider Choisya ternata or Abelia x grandiflora.

alternathera. purple knight. a bit aggressive, but it'd look great with the light blue ruellia (if you like the purple on purple look).

Wire deer netting + peeler poles + staples is relatively inexpensive, buying shrubs that are then spoiled and buying repellent over and over out indefinitely into the future seems pretty likely to match and then exceed the cost of such fencing. Even when the fencing is used to enclose a fairly large area. For instance some years ago it cost about $300 to deer fence an entire mail order nursery growing area I was helping with at the time. In my area a body can easily spend $300 on one or two trips to a garden center to buy shrubs etc. And supposedly deer resistant plants can turn out not to be - deer sample plants and may work on them for a bit before apparently deciding they don't like them. And what they go for varies from one site to the next, with items that are novel to those particular deer being targeted. So that for instance an 'Edward Goucher' abelia I planted years ago on a friend's country property has been kept nibbled back ever since - so much for abelias being predictably and reliably deer resistant.

Ninebarks are pretty. As is Clethra. Ninebarks come in all sorts of leaf colors from nearly black to green to very yellowy green. Clethras come in both pink and white. For either, you need to look at the mature height.