When Catwoman was originally introduced, she was a cat burglar simply named the Cat who had no romantic interest in Batman and just wanted to continue being a thief while getting Batman out of her hair. Originally intended to be a one-off villain, Catwoman proved popular because she was a female adversary who didn't use sexuality or taking advantage of her gender to achieve her goals. She proved to be popular for a few years, until Batman #62 when DC decided to retire the character in favor of developing new characters.
Catwoman was actually given a very good exodus story, where she suffers head trauma fighting Batman and it is revealed that she has been a criminal all these years because of brainwashing by a larger criminal organization. Catwoman, now revealed to be a stewardess named Selina Kyle, aids Batman in taking down this organization. Afterwards, Selina Kyle decides to retire from being Catwoman and return to being a normal person, but Batman predicts that Gothan City may need Catwoman's assistance once again in the future.
Sure enough, the fans demanded Catwoman come back - as a heroine - and they got almost everything they wanted. Catwoman came back as a cat burglar as she did before, but there was never any mention of her being brainwashed, or being a stewardess, or retiring, or even helping Batman. She was just a cat burglar stealing cat-themed works of art and known to the public as being Selina Kyle, just like the vast majority of Batman's villains have public identities. This incarnation of Catwoman made it to the TV show starring Adam West, but they took some liberties by making her constantly use words with a "purr" sound effect and rolling her R's. This TV version of Catwoman was actually the first time we saw sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman, which would eventually carry over to the comics.
By the time Crisis on Infinite Earths came about, Catwoman was pretty much set in her role as a villain with unknown origins who had sexual tension with Batman. Crisis changed all that, especially after Batman: Year One, the comic that all Batman stories now follow (with the exception of one important retcon). In Year: One, Catwoman was now a stripper and part-time prostitute taking care of a preteen girl named Holly Robinson. Selina Kyle was inspired by Batman's appearance to also become a vigilante, but chose to also steal from the corrupt to fund her activities. Catwoman had a few run-ins with Batman during Year: One and The Long Halloween, but she was never considered an outright villain, just an anti-hero. A few years later during the events of Zero Hour, Catwoman's background was retconned so that she was no longer a prostitute.
A short background on Zero Hour. In 1994, 8 years after Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the entirety of DC's canon, a new event was launched that would again reboot the DC Universe, but this time with only subtle differences to fix continuity problems and adjust plot elements that just didn't work anymore. The main purpose of Zero Hour other than fixing these problems was to kill off every Green Lantern and introduce a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner.
After Zero Hour, Catwoman became Batman's on again-off again love interest, although only in costume as he never trusted her enough to reveal his identity. Selina Kyle became somewhat of a socialite over the years and ended up dating Bruce Wayne off and on, sometimes at the same time she was dating Batman. This finally came to an end when Batman unmasked himself to Catwoman for the first time during Batman: Hush. Since Batman's unmasking, Catwoman has fought for the side of good and has even been a member of the Birds of Prey.
During the events of 52 and One Year Later, Kyle became pregnant by an unseen father and gave up her daughter, Helena, up for adoption. It's still unknown if Bruce Wayne is the father, but all evidence points to the contrary. For a short period of time, Selina was paralyzed from the waist down and Bruce Wayne visited her in the hospital, admitting that he loved her like no other woman. Shortly after these events, Batman was seemingly killed by Darkseid in Final Crisis. Since Batman's return from the "dead," Catwoman has been fighting alongside him in Batman Incorporated and seems to have an actual stable romantic relationship with him.
It's unknown what the future holds now for Batman and Catwoman, whether they will go beyond where they have been and eventually marry, whether Selina Kyle will move into Wayne Manor, and whether Catwoman can decide to truly join the side of justice. At the end of Batman Incorporated #2, Batman confronted Catwoman with some diamonds that she had stolen during their time in Japan. She returned them and he let her off the hook, but the future is still unwritten.
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