Cruise-Holmes affair hots up

ALL indications are that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are serious. In the past month they have holidayed with his children and attended a high-profile party in the US together.

The two made their US debut as a couple at a bash thrown by Oprah Winfrey, the US celebrity magazine Star reports.

The lovebirds, who first showed up smooching in Rome last month, attended Winfrey's white-tie Legends Ball in Santa Barbara, where they mingled with the likes of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and singer Barbra Streisand.

Before that they spent five days in Mexico with the actor's children, Isabella, 12, and Connor, 10.

They stayed in a beachside villa at the $3000-a-night Maroma Resort and Spa, where they swam and went scuba diving.

The presence of his children - adopted with ex-wife Nicole Kidman - did not stop Cruise, 42, and Holmes, 26, showing their feelings.

"Tom and Katie's villa looked out over the ocean, and I saw them on the roof kissing and hugging a lot," someone at the resort was quoted as saying.

"They all got on like one big, happy family. Tom did guy stuff with Connor, while Isabella and Katie checked out the boutiques and gift shops."

Even more telling was that on their return to Los Angeles, Cruise introduced his new love to his faith, Scientology.

First, they went to Help, the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project, a community-based school at which studying techniques based on the works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard are taught.

Later that day, they stopped in at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood, an imposing but elegant chateau-style building that hosts events, classes and seminars.

Wonder what Holmes's devoutly Catholic family thought of this chapter in the romance?