Herb repelled Scottish devil woman — but took his time? (5-7)
I believe the answer is:
dilly-dallied
'took his time?' is the definition.
(to dilly-dally is to delay)
'herb repelled scottish devil woman' is the wordplay.
'herb' becomes 'dill' (dill is a kind of herb).
'repelled' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'scottish devil' becomes 'deil' (Scottish term for 'devil').
'woman' becomes 'lady' (lady is a kind of woman).
'deil'+'lady'='deillady'
'deillady' backwards is 'ydallied'.
'dill'+'ydallied'='DILLY-DALLIED'
'but' acts as a link.
(Another definition for dilly-dallied that I've seen is " Dragged one's feet".)