Mal grinned, which made Jenna take her hand and give her a teasing look.
“Come on, Mal,” she drawled playfully. “You know you want to.”
She laughed and gave her cousin a look. “Of course, I want to, Jenna. Let me know the dates and times, and I’ll check. I’m supposed to go to British Columbia next month to work a resort shoot.”
Jenna raised a brow slowly. “Travis Bradford’s place?”
Mal nodded, surprised. “How’d you know?”
“He’s the biggest name there. Gorgeous resort. You’ll love it. If there’s a conflict, let me know. Travis owes Tom a favor. We can switch him around if we need to.”
“Does everybody do what you want?” Mal asked her cousin with a laugh.
“Pretty much,” Tom said, appearing at Jenna’s side, looking dapper in a classic black tux. He kissed Jenna’s cheek, then did the same with Mal. “Hi, Mal. You look great!”
Mal laughed and looked down at herself briefly. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Taryn what she’d wear—white blouse, high waist black pencil skirt, with a simply detailed ribbon belt at the top for emphasis, and her hair done up in a French twist, with diamond stud earrings and a silver heart necklace. Simple, elegant, but ultimately, professional.
Particularly with the camera around her neck.
“Thanks, Tom,” she said with a wry grin. “Not quite black tie, but I’m working.”
Tom winked at her. “You look fantastic. And if you’ll look around the room, you’ll see that you look better than most of the women here. And with those shoes, kiddo, you’re almost average height!”
Mal rolled her eyes and looked to the ceiling but smiled all the same.
“You’re wearing the Christian Louboutins!” Jenna squealed, turning Mal to see them better.
“Of course,” Mal said simply. “I have nowhere else to wear them, and they matched.”
Jenna gave her a look. “They’re black pumps, Mallory. They match just about everything.” She looked down at the shoes again. “I love those on you.”
“They were a very generous gift, Jenna,” Mal said, taking her hand again. “Particularly when I wasn’t in the wedding party.”
Jenna waved that off. “You’re my favorite; that means you get the presents too. I don’t care what the other girls said about your choice. I firmly believe every woman needs a sexy pair of black pumps. They do amazing things for your legs, and they are always in style.”
Mal smiled and sighed as more people filtered in. “I guess you guys better get to it. Host and hostess, after all.”
Jenna wrinkled her nose up. “Guess so. I hope this works, you know? I want to make a difference here. After Emily…” Her throat worked, and she looked up at the ceiling to blink the tears away.
Mal squeezed her hand tightly. “I know,” she murmured, remembering their second cousin, who’d been more of a sister to them both and a best friend in childhood. “I was just thinking about her. I thought about that fantastic children’s choir at her funeral service, remember?”
Jenna smiled broadly. “Such cute kids. I think they still have that choir down in Memphis.” Her eyes suddenly brightened, and she turned to Tom. “Can we get them for the event next month at the museum? That would be amazing!”
Tom sighed and took Jenna’s arm. “We’ll talk about it, babe. Let’s do this one first, okay?” He looked back at Mal. “Brunch tomorrow, Mal. No excuses, no exceptions. We’ll call you.”
She smiled and waved as they left, then went back to her job.
A small group of musicians in one corner of the room started playing, and Mal’s heart leaped to her throat as they started playing light jazz. She listened to jazz almost all the time now, but hearing it live was something else entirely.
She swallowed hard and captured what she could of the evening. The guests, the food, the decorations, the musicians—everything all wrapped together. Faintly, it occurred to her to wonder how much money was in this room with her, and that made her smile. A few couples started dancing near the musicians, and Mal moved in that direction to take pictures of them.
Jenna and Tom worked the room expertly, making it a point to speak to everyone, which wasn’t hard, as everyone wanted to speak to them. They had grown even more popular after their wedding than they had been before, which was quite an accomplishment. True to form, they smiled and laughed the entire time, took a brief break in socializing to dance, and were never more than ten feet from each other all evening.
If anybody thought their marriage was all for show and publicity, they wouldn’t think so if they saw them tonight. It was almost too intimate to watch, and Mal’s throat burned at the sight. She ventured out onto the stretch out of the building, and the night air felt wonderfully cool against her flushed skin. From inside, she could hear the jazz ensemble start playing “It Never Entered My Mind,” and she leaned her head back, closing her eyes as she remembered that dance. Had she ever felt that beautiful or loved?
No, of course she hadn’t.
No one had ever made her feel what Hunter had.