Rejected the incentive and returned home (7)
I believe the answer is:
spurned
'rejected' is the definition.
(I know that rejected can be written as spurned)
'incentive and returned home' is the wordplay.
'incentive' becomes 'spur' (an incentive spurs someone on).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'returned' says the letters should be written backwards.
'home' becomes 'den' (an animal's home).
'den' back-to-front is 'ned'.
'spur'+'ned'='SPURNED'
'the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for spurned that I've seen before include "treated with contempt?" , "Rejected scornfully, say a suitor" .)