[*modified according to the clarification given in comments*].

In general, for an invertible square matrix $\Sigma=\Sigma(\rho)$, differentiably depending on the real variable $\rho$, we have: $(\Sigma^{-1})'=-\Sigma^{-1} \Sigma' \Sigma^{-1}$, and $\big(\det(\Sigma)\big)'=\operatorname{tr} (\Sigma^{-1}   \Sigma')\det(\Sigma)$, so that 
$\big(\log \det(\Sigma)\big)'=\operatorname{tr} (\Sigma^{-1} \Sigma')$. 

Here, $\Sigma'$ is the matrix with entries $-h_{ij}e^{-\rho h_{ij}}$, the Hadamard product of the matrices $-(h_{ij})_{ij}$ and $\Sigma$; and since both  $\Sigma^{-1}$ and $\Sigma'$ are symmetric, $\operatorname{tr} (\Sigma^{-1} \Sigma')$ is just their Frobenius scalar product. I do not see other simplifications, unfortunately.