The engagement rumors regarding 35-year-old Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and 40-year-old Spanish actor Javier Borden have heated up again in recent days after the private couple was photographed getting frisky on a beach in Brazil this week.  The rumors began back in October, when Cruz was flashing a stunning engagement ring at the screening of the film Broken.  The pair denied the rumors, but a friend of Cruz leaked information to the press saying that “Penelope’s parents are conservative Catholics and are really pushing for her to get married. Javier would like to take things slowly, but Penelope wants to make her parents happy.”  The friend also told reporters that a holiday wedding may be possible for the pair, and because Cruz is from Spain, she would like a Spanish designer to create her wedding gown.  During this time Cruz was spotted visiting a famous Spanish dress designer at the House of Balenciaga.

The first several months Cruz and Borden were very low key and revealed nothing to the media in regards to their relationship.  This leak angered the couple, who had hoped to keep their relationship and wedding plans out of the press, and came just after Cruz downplayed marriage to a reporter for Britain’s Psychologies magazine saying that, “I don’t know if I believe in marriage.  I believe in family, love and children.” This is obviously very different information than that that was leaked by her friend.

While as far as the press knows, there was no holiday wedding, Cruz is still sporting the ring, as evidenced in the photos taken in Brazil.  The alleged engagement ring is an enormous sapphire center stone surrounded by smaller diamonds, and leads one to believe that if it wasn’t an engagement ring, why would she wear it everyday, or at the beach?

Cruz and Borden originally met before the two Spanish actors had hit it big in mainstream Hollywood.  Back in 1992 they filmed the movie, Jamon, Jamon, together, but Cruz broke off their steamy relationship after the filming had ended.  A few years later, they met again on the set of Live Flesh, in 1997, with no rumors of a relationship, and it wasn’t until their latest film together that the two really got hot and heavy.  They have been back together since 2007 and meeting again with their supporting roles in Woody Allen’s movie Vicky Christina Barcelona.  Cruz played Borden’s ex wife in the film and was so convincing that she won an Oscar for her role.

The two have been inseparable since, despite rumors that Cruz had been angry with Borden over his workload, and broken things off.  Cruz and Borden have still been quiet regarding their relationship.  So quiet, in fact, that the couple could already be married and we may not even know about it!