All eyes were on Dearden, who is favoured to usurp Daly Cherry-Evans as Queensland's State of Origin No.7 when teams for game two in Perth are announced.
But reigning Dally M Medallist Hughes was the stand-out from both teams, scoring two tries and setting up two more as well as nine tackle-busts in one of his best performances of the season.
Hughes embraced his running game to keep the Cowboys defence guessing, with Cameron Munster also up to the challenge as the superstar pair marked their 100th NRL game in the Storm halves.
Hughes also pulled off a critical strip on Jeremiah Nanai close to the tryline to help his team winning consecutive matches for the first time since round six.
Melbourne started with a bang with tries to Eli Katoa and Hughes setting up a 12-0 after 18 minutes.
A pin-point cut-out pass from Dearden to winger Jaxson Paulo put the visitors on the scoreboard.
But Melbourne went off the boil and only desperate defence kept them ahead, with North Queensland dominating territory 68 per cent to 32.
Despite that statistic the Storm made them pay in the 39th minute when a Hughes bomb was dropped cold by fullback Scott Drinkwater.
Hughes then collected the spoils in the next set, linking with the rest of the star Melbourne spine for an 18-4 halftime lead.
Despite a massive spray by Cowboys coach Todd Payten, Nick Meaney crossed two minutes into the second half after the Melbourne centre ran onto a a Hughes grubber.
The talented Cowboys attack finally kicked into gear and after Drinkwater saved a third Hughes try he scored one of his own after a Reece Robson dart from dummy-half.
Robert Derby was in two minutes later to close the margin to 10 points but Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona stalled the Cowboys' momentum when he used his size and strength to drag four defenders over the line.
A Ryan Papenhuyzen penalty then put the game out of reach for the visitors before Tyran Wishart iced the win with Melbourne's sixth try of the night.
Dearden did enough to impress Maroons coach Billy Slater while Robson showed no signs of any hamstring distress to put his hand up to retain the NSW hooker jersey.
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