Be holding a bone, as an inducement (5)
I believe the answer is:
bribe
'an inducement' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'be holding a bone' is the wordplay.
'holding' indicates putting letters inside.
'a bone' becomes 'rib' (rib is a kind of bone).
'be' enclosing 'rib' is 'BRIBE'.
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for bribe that I've seen before include "Money offered to corrupt" , "Sweetener, inducement" , "Carrot" , "Illegal payment in exchange for favour" , "Sop" .)